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THE 


LIFE    OF    HANDEL. 


BY 


VICTOR  SCHGELCHER. 


BOSTON: 

OLIVER     DITSON     AND     COMPANY 

277  WASHINGTON  STREET. 

CHAS.  H.  UITSON  &  CO.,  NEW  YORK. 


^/^/   y    £a     ^'-'^i 


PREFACE  TO  THE  AMERICAN  EDITION.' 

The  present  edition  is  a  faithful  reprint  of  Mr.  Schcel- 
cher's  work,  and  contains  all  that  is  to  be  found  in  the 
original.  It  has  been  deemed  necessary,  however,  to 
make  some  alterations  in  the  arrangement  of  the  matter, 
with  the  view  of  preserving  the  biographical  sequences, 
and  separating  much  that  is  argumentative  from  that 
which  is  historical  and  personal.  For  this  purpose  many- 
passages  have  been  transferred  to  the  foot  of  the  page, 
as  notes,  which  in  the  original  are  incorporated  in  the 
body  of  the  work.  It  is  believed  that  this  arrangement 
will  greatly  relieve  the  reader,  and  enable  him  to  pursue 
the  thread  of  the  biography  without  losing  himself  in 
side  discussions  and  local  topics. 

Mr.  Schoelcher  has  made  extensive  researches  for  this 
biography  of  Handel,  and  has  produced  a  work  of  last- 
ing value,  not  only  as  it  relates  to  that  composer,  but  as 
furnishing  a  curious  and  very  exact  insight  into  the  mu- 
sical history  of  England,  especially  of  the  period  when 
Italian  opera  was  introduced  into  that  country. 


r>i>^.>  i 


LIST    OF   WORKS 
CONSULTED    BY    THE    AUTHOR. 


Collections  of  Handel's  Original  MSS.  at  Buckingham  Palace,  and 
at  the  Fitzwilliam  Museum,  Cambridge. 

Collection  of  the  Scores  used  by  Handel  when  conducting,  and  now 
in  the  possession  of  the  Author. 

Collection  of  the  "Works  of  Handel,  copied  by  J.  C.  Smith,  Esq.,  his 
amanuensis,  now  in  the  possession  of  Henry  Barrett  Lennard,  Esq. 

A  Treatise  of  MusicTc.     By  Alex.  Malcolm.     8vo.     Edinburgh,  1721. 

A  Pocket  Companion  for  Gentlemen  and  Ladies ;  being  a  Collection 
of  the  finest  Opera  Songs  and  Airs  in  English  and  Italian.  2  vols. ; 
one  small  8vo,  the  other  8vo.     London,  Cluer.     N.D.  (about  1125.) 

Poems  on  Several  Occasions.     By  Henry  Carey.     Small  Svo.     1129. 

The  Ifusical  Miscellany ;  being  a  Collection  of  Choice  Songs.  6  vols, 
small  Svo.     London,  T.  Watts,  1729-31. 

The  Opera  Miscellany ;  bemg  a  Pocket  Collection  of  Songs,  chiefly 
composed  for  the  Eoyal  Academy  of  Musick.  Small  Svo.  London, 
John  Browne.     N.D.  (about  1730.) 

Letters  from  the  Academy  of  Ancient  Mmic  at  London  to  Signor  An- 
tonia  Lotti  of  Venise,  loith  Answers  and  Testimonies.  A  Pamphlet. 
London,  1732. 

The  Oxford  Act;  a  new  ballad  opera.  A  Pamphlet.  London, 
1733. 

TJie  Oxford  Act,  a.d.  1733 ;  being  a  particular  and  exact  account 
of  that  Solemnity.     Pamphlet.     London,  1734. 

John  Hughes's  Poems.     Small  Svo,     London,  1735. 

The  Opera  Register,  from  November,  1712,  to  1734.  MS.  at  the 
British  Museum  (Catalogue,  21S,  King's  MSS.),  containing  a  Ust  of  the 
performances  at  the  Italian  Opera.     By  Francis  Colman. 

The  British  Musical  Miscellany :  or,  the  Delightfid  Grove :  being  a 
Collection  of  celebrated  Enghsh  and  Scotch  Songs.  6  vols.  Svo. 
London,  Walsh,  1734-37. 

Grundlage  einer  Ehren-Pforte  woran  der  tuchtigsten  Gapellmeister, 
Componisten,  Musickgelehrten,  &c.     Yon  Mattheson.     Hamburg,  1740. 

An  Apology  for  the  Life  of  Mr.  Colley  Gibber.  1  vol.  Svo.  Loudon, 
1740. 


VI  L  I  S  T     O  F     AV  O  E  K  S  . 

The  Musical  Dictionary.  By  James  Grassineau.  8vo.  London. 
1740. 

Universal  Harmony;  or,  the  Gentlemen  and  Ladies''  Social  Com- 
panion.    1  vol.  4to.     J.  ISTewbery,     London,  1745. 

The  Art  of  Composing  Music  by  a  method  entirely  new,  suited  to  the 
meanest  capacity.     Pamphlet.     London,  1751. 

The  Works  of  the  late  Aaron  Hill     4  vols.  8vo.     London,  1753. 

Remarks  ujjon  Musick ;  to  which  are  added  several  observations 
upon  some  of  Mr.  Handel's  Oratorios,  and  other  parts  of  his  works. 
By  a  Lover  of  Harmony.     Worcester,  1758. 

The  Dramatic  Works  of  Aaron  Hill.     4  vols.  8 vo.     1760. 

Memoirs  of  the  Life  of  the  late  George  Frederic  Handel.  (Mainwar- 
ing.)     8vo.     London,  1760. 

An  Account  of  the  Life  of  Handel,  in  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  of 
April,  1760. 

Abstract  of  the  Life  of  Handel  in  the  London  Chronicle,  June,  1760. 

Clio  and  Euterpe;  or,  British  Harmony :  a  Collection  of  celebrated 
Songs  and  Cantatas.     3  vols,  royal  8vo.     London,  H,  Roberts,  1762. 

The  Companion  to  the  Flayhouse.  2  vols,  small  8vo.  London, 
1764. 

Dictionnaire  de  Musique.     Par  J.  J.  Rousseau.     Paris,  1768. 

An  Account  of  the  Institution  and  Progress  of  the  Academy  of  An- 
cient Music.  By  a  Member.  Pamphlet,  8vo.  London,  1770.  (By 
Hawkins.) 

Miscellaneous  Works  of  Dr.  Arbuihnot.  2  vols.  12mo.  London, 
1770. 

Various  Joui-nals,  the  Gentleman^ s  Magazine  and  London  Magazine, 
from  1710  to  1770. 

The  Musical  Magazine ;  or,  Compleat  Pocket  Companion  for  tJie  Years 
1767,  68,  69,  and  70.     4  vols,  small  4to.     London,  J.  Bennett. 

A  General  History  of  the  Science  and  Practice  of  Music.  By  John 
Hawkins.  5  vols.  4to.  London,  l776.^New  edition,  in  2  vols.  4to, 
double  columns.     Novello,  1853.* 

Dramatic  Works  of  Colley  Gibber.     5  vols.  12mo.     London,  1777. 

A.  B.  C.  Dario  Musico.     Bath,  1780. 

*  The  pagination  which  I  have  invariably  adopted  of  Hawkins's  History  of 
Music,  whenever  it  is  quoted  hy  me,  is  that  of  Mr.  Novello' s  new  edition,  which 
is  more  complete  than  the  previous  one,  more  within  the  reach  of  everybody  on 
account  of  its  price,  and,  also,  because  the  index  with  which  it  is  provided  facili- 
tates research.  Whenever  the  name  of  Burney  occurs  as  an  authority,  with  a 
cipher  of  pagioation,  it  is  the  fourth  volume  of  his  Ilistory  of  Music  that  is  indi- 
cated. Whenever  any  of  the  first  three  volumes  or  his  Account  of  the  Com- 
memoratio7i  of  1784,  are  referred  to,  it  is  specially  indicated. 


LISTOFWOEKS.  VU 

An  Account  of  the  Life  of  Handel,  in  the  European  Magazine,  March, 
1184. 

An  Account  of  the  Musical  Performances  in  Westminster  Abbey  and 
the  Pantheon,  in  Commemoration  of  Handel.  By  Charles  Burney.  4to. 
London,  1785. 

llie  Messiah.  Fifty  Discourses  on  the  Scriptural  Passages  which 
form  the  subject  of  the  celebrated  Oratorio  of  Handel.  By  John  New- 
ton.    1786. 

A  General  History  of  Music.  By  Charles  Bumey,  Mus.  Doct.  4 
vols.     4to.     London,  1776  to  1789. 

The  Play  PocJcet  Companion;  or,  Tlieairical  Vade  Mecum.  London, 
1789. 

A  Complete  Dictionary  of  Music,  &c.  By  John  Hoyle.  Small  8vo. 
London,  1791. 

The  Theatrical  Dictionary.     London,  1792. 

An  EncyclopcBdia,  or  Dictionary  of  Music,  &c.  By  T.  F.  Dannely. 
Small  8vo.     London,  N.  D. 

The  Works  of  Handel,  in  Score.  Edited  by  Arnold.  32  vols.  1785 
-1797. 

The  Sacred  Oratorios  and  the  Miscellaneous  Pieces,  as  set  to  Music 
by  Gr.  P.  Handel.     By  T.  Heptmstall.     2  vols.  32mo.  1799. 

Anecdotes  of  George  Frederick  Handel  and  John  Christopher  Smith. 
4to.     London,  1799.     (Rev.  W.  Coxe,  Rector  of  Bemerton.) 

Trivia.    By  Gay.     12  mo.     London,  1807. 

Poetical  Works  of  Pope. 

Anecdotes  of  the  Manners  and  Customs  of  London  during  the  Eigh- 
teenth Century.    By  Peller  Malcolm.     2  vols.  8vo.     London,  1811. 

History  of  the  Origin  and  Progress  of  the  Meeting  of  the  Tfiree  Choirs 
of  Gloucester,  Worcester,  and  Hereford.  By  the  Rev.  Dan.  Lysons. 
Gloucester,  1812. 

Biographia  Dramatica.  By  Baker,  Reed,  and  Jones.  4  vols.  8vo. 
London,  1812. 

Musical  Biography.     (W.  Bingley.)     2  vols.  8 vo.     London,  1714. 

Anecdotes  of  Music.     By  A.  Burgh.     3  vols.  12mo.     London,  1814. 

Dictionnaire  Historique  des  Musiciens.  Par  Choron  et  PayoUe.  2 
vols.  8vo.     1817. 

TJie  Cyclopoedia,  or  Universal  Dictionary,  &c.  By  Rees,  39  vols. 
4to.     London,  1819. 

A  General  History  of  Music.  By  Th.  Busby.  2  vols,  royal  8vo. 
London,  1819. 

Commemoration  of  Handel     By  John  King.     8vo.     1819. 


Vm  LIST     OF     W  O  K  K  S  . 

Posihumoibs  Letters  from  va/riotis  Celebrated  Men,  addressed  to  Franois 
Colman  and  George  Colman.     4to.    London,  1820. 

Seattle's  Letters,  from  Sir  William  Forbes's  Collection.  2  vols.  3  2  mo. 
London,  1820. 

A  Dictionary  of  Music.     By  Busby.     Small  8 vo.     London,  1820. 

An  Account  of  the  National  Anthem.  By  Kichard  Clark.  Royal  8vo. 
London,  1822. 

How  to  he  Rid  of  a  Wife.  By  Miss  Eliz.  Spence.  2  vols.  12mo. 
London,  1823. 

Somerset  Home  Gazette.  By  Ephraim  Hardcastle.  2  vols.  4:to. 
1823. 

An  Account  of  the  Grand  Musical  Festival  held  in  September,  1823, 
in  York.  By  John  Crosse,  F!fe.A.,  F.R.S.L.,  and  M.G.S.*  4to.  York, 
1825. 

The  Second  Yorkshire  Musical  Festival,  1825.     4to.     York,  1825. 

Literary  and  Miscellaneous  Memoirs.     By  J.  Cradock.     1826. 

De  V  Opera  en  France.  Par  M.  Castil  Blaze.  2  vols.  8vo.  Paris, 
1826. 

A  Catalogue  of  the  Musical  Library  belonging  to  his  majesty's  Con- 
certs of  Ancient  Music.     8vo.     London,  1827. 

A  Dictionary  of  Musicians.     2  vols.  8vo.     London,  1727. 

Memoir  Relating  to  the  Portrait  of  Handel  by  Francis  Kyte.  Pam- 
phlet.    4to.     1829.     (By  Keith  Mihies,  Esq.) 

An  Account  of  the  Royal  Musical  Festival  held  in  Westminster  Abbey, 
1834.     By  John  Parry.     A  Pamphlet.     4to.     London. 

Musical  Reminiscences.     By  Mount  Edgcumbe.     London,  1834. 

Letters  of  Horace  Walpole  to  Sir  Horace  Mann.  Third  edition. 
3  vols.  8vo.     London,  1834. 

Reminiscences  of  Handel,  his  Grace  the  Duke  of  Chandos,  Po^vells,  the 
Harpers,  etc.    By  Richard  Clarke.    Pamphlet.    Folio.     London,  1836. 

Biographic  Universelle  des  Musiciens.  Par  Fetis.  8  vols,  royal  8vo. 
Paris,  1839. 

Dictionnaire  de  Musique.  Par  Lichtenthal,  traduit  et  augmente  par 
Mondo.     2  vols,  royal  8vo.     Paris,  1839. 

Georg  Friderich  HcendeVs  Stammbaum  nach  Original-quellen  und 
authentischen  Kachrichten.     (Genealogy  of  Georg  Friderick  Handel 

•  The  English  savans  having  a  mania  for  putting  the  alphabet  after  their  names, 
as  the  initials  of  titles  which  no  foreigners  and  few  Englishmen  seem  to  under- 
stand, I  have  deemed  it  expedient  to  attach  an  explanation  to  the  hieroglyphics 
here  used.  F.S.A.,  Fellow  of  the  Society  of  Arts;  F.R.S.L.,  Fellow  of  the 
Royal  Society  of  Literature ;  M.G-.S.,  Member  of  the  Geological  Society;  LL.D., 
Doctor  of  Laws  and  Literature. 


LI  STOF     WORKS.  IX 

taken  from  original  sources  and  authentic  proofs,  collected  and  elabo- 
rated.) Von  Karl  Edward  Forstemann.  Pamphlet.  Folio.  Leipzig, 
1844.     Chez  Breithopf  et  HJirtel. 

Memoirs  of  Alusick.  By  the  lion.  Koger  North.  Edited  by  Dr. 
Rimbault,  LL.D.,  F.S.A. 

Memoranda,  or  Chronicles  of  the  Foundling  Hosjntal  By  John 
Brownlow.     8vo.     1847. 

An  Account  of  the  Visit  of  Handel  to  Dublin.  By  Horatio  Townsend. 
Small  8vo.     Dublin,  1852. 

Catalogue  of  the  Manuscript  Music  in  the  British  Museum.  Royal 
8vo.     London,  1852. 

The  Works  of  Handel,  in  Score.  By  the  Handel  Society.  14  -^'ols. 
London,  1844-1853.     (A  prefoce  is  attached  to  each  publication.) 

Messiah.  4to.  London.  With  an  Analysis  of  the  Oratorio.  1853. 
Published  by  the  Sacred  Harmonic  Society.     (Libretto  of  the  words.) 

Complete  Encyclopedia  of  Music.  By  T.  Moore.  Royal  8vo.  Bos- 
ton, 1854. 

Diciionnaire  de  Plain  Chant  et  de  Musique  d^Eglise  au  Moyen  Age. 
Par  J.  D'Ortigue.    4to.     Paris,  1854. 

Brief  Memoirs  of  George  Frederick  Handel.  By  John  Bishop,  of 
Cheltenham.     Pamphlet.     FoUo.     London,  1856. 

Crand  Handel  Musical  Festival  at  the  Crystal  Palace.  By  Mr. 
Thomas  Bowley.     Pamphlet.     8vo.     1857. 

Tlie  Theatrical  Registei\  MS.  4to.  At  the  British  Museum ;  filled 
with  advertisements  and  theatrical  criticisms,  cut  from  the  journals  of 
the  eighteenth  century. 

It  is  believed  that  this  list  contains  all  the  works  published  in  En- 
gland which  can  be  of  service,  directly  or  indirectly,  to  this  Biography. 
There  exists  a  Life  of  Handel  by  Dixwell — a  pamphlet,  pubhshed  in 
London  in  1784;  but  although  I  have  been  unable  to  discover  a  copy 
of  it  anywhere,  even  in  the  British  Museum,  the  following  verdict  of 
the  Critical  Review  for  1784  leaves  httle  to  be  regretted  on  that  score: 
— "  This  work  is  a  vulgar  narration,  very  ungrammatical,  and  devoid 
of  common  sense." 

France  possesses  absolutely  nothing  on  the  life  and  works  of  Handel, 
except  the  articles  about  him  in  the  Biographic  Universelle  des  3fusiciens, 
by  M.  Fetis,  and  the  Dictionnaire  Historique  des  Musiciens  of  Clioron 
and  Fayolle ;  there  is,  besides  (according  to  M.  Fetis),  an  abridged 
translation  of  Mainwaring  inserted  in  the  Varieies  Litteraires  of  Arnaud 
and  Suard.  Paris,  1768.  The  article  in  the  Biographic  Universelle  of 
;Michaud  is  nothing  but  a  piece  of  scissors-work,  and  is  altogether  in- 
significant. 

1* 


X  L  I  S  T     O  F     W  O  R  K  S  . 

Besides  tlie  work  of  Mattheson,  and  that  of  M.  Ffirstcmann  above 
mentioned,  all  that  German  literature  possesses  respecting  the  great 
musician  is  as  follows : 

Einfultige  Critique  der  Opera  Julms  Coe^sar  in  Aegypten.  Von  Hans 
Sachsen.  Hamburg,  1725.  (Simple  Criticism  of  the  Opera  of  Julius 
Coesar  in  Egypt^  by  Hans  Sachsen.)  It  is  said  that  an  answer  to  this 
criticism  has  been  published  at  Altona,  under  the  title  of  ''Hans  SacJiscn's 
Heroic  Poem.''^ 

Georg  Fricdrich  HdndeVs  Lehensbeschreibung^  nehst  einera  Verzeichnisse 
seiner  Ausuhung-  Werke  und  deren  Beurtheilung,  &c.  Von  Mattheson. 
Hambourg,  1761.  8vo.  (Gr.  F.  Handel's  Biography,  with  a  hst  of  his 
works  and  a  criticism  of  them.)  This  notice  of  Mattheson  is  a  trans- 
lation of  Mainwaring,  with  remarks  of  the  translator  upon  the  works 
of  Handel.  My  endeavors  have  hitherto  been  in  vain  to  obtain 
a  copy  of  this  in  Germany,  and  it  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  British 
Museum. 

Georg  Friedrich  HcindcVs  Jugend.  (G.  F.  Handel's  Youth.)  Von 
Reichhardt.  Berhn,  1786.  30  pages  in  8 vo.  (Not  to  be  found  in  the 
British  Museum.) 

Handel  dessen  Lebensumstdnde  (Particulars  of  the  Life  of  G.  F. 
Handel)  in  Adrastea,  von  V.  Herder.     Leipzig,  1802. 

Lebetisbeschreibungen  beruhmter  Musikgelehrten.  (Biographies  of  cele- 
brated Musicians.)     Von  Hiller.     8vo.     Leipzig,  1784. 

Fur  Freunde  der  Tonkunst.  (For  the  Friends  of  Musical  Art.)  4to. 
Von  Rochlitz.  (Notice  of  Handel  and  of  The  Messiah  in  the  1st  and 
4th  vols.) 

Der  grosse  Musikus  Handel  im  Universalruhme.  (The  great  Musician 
Handel  in  his  Universal  Fame.)  Von  J.  M.  Weissebeck.  Niirnberg. 
4to.     1809.     (Not  to  be  found  in  the  British  Museum.) 

M.  Fetis,  in  his  article  on  Handel  in  the  Biographie  Universelle  des 
Musicietis,  mentions  the  following  works : 

"  Burney's  notice  of  the  Commemoration  has  been  translated  into 
German  by  Eschenburg,  with  additions  and  notes. 

"  Krause  has  also  published  a  notice  upon  Handel,  in  his  Dartsiel- 
lungen  aus  der  Geschichie  der  Musik.  (Exposition  of  the  History  of 
Music.)     Pp.  155-170. 

"  Finally,  Mr.  Theodore  Milde  has  given  another,  in  his  work  entitled 
Ueier  das  Lehen  und  die  Werke  der  beliebesten  deutschen  Dichter  und 
Tonseizer.  2  vols.  8vo.  1834.  (On  the  Life  and  Works  of  the  most 
Celebrated  German  Poets  and  Musicians.)" 

Le  Dictionnaire  of  Choron  and  Fayolle  mentions  also  a  Life  of  Han- 
del in  the  Lexicon  de  Musique  Allemande,  by  Walthcr. 


PREFACE. 


Of  all  the  Arts,  Music  is  that  which  brings  the  greatest  conso- 
lation to  the  mind,  when  consolation  is  possible.  The  misfor- 
tunes of  the  times  have  compelled  me  to  quit  my  native  country 
for  a  season,  and  in  my  retirement  in  London  I  have  found  a 
great  source  of  consolation  in  listening  to  the  Oratoiios  of 
Handel,  which  I  had  ah-eady  learned  to  admire  during  three  pre- 
vious visits  to  England,  and  at  home  in  the  constant  society  of 
classical  amateurs.  Out  of  this  grew  a  wish  to  possess  all  the 
works  of  that  great  man,  to  whom  I  felt  so  deeply  indebted. 
In  bringing  these  together,  I  found  it  necessary,  to  their  proper 
arrangement,  that  I  should  make  myself  acquainted  with  the 
various  authors  who  have  made  mention  of  Handel.  These  re- 
searches, commenced  by  me  when  alone  and  in  the  bitterness 
of  exile,  drew  me  on  much  further  than  I  had  anticipated,  and 
produced  results  which  seem  to  me  capable  of  interesting  both 
the  connoisseurs  of  Handel  and  those  who  know  nothing  about 
him ;  for  he  was  not  only  one  of  the  first  composers  that  the 
world  ever  saw,  but  he  was  also  a  man  gifted  with  a  great  and 
noble  character.  It  is  in  this  belief  that  I  offer  to  the  reader 
this  work,  the  fruit  of  three  years  spent  in  zealous  and  assiduous 
labor. 

And,  first,  let  me  acknowledge,  both  for  the  satisfaction  of 
my  sense  of  gratitude  and  to  give  a  greater  value  to  my  work, 
that  I  have  received  great  and  important  assistance  from  various 
quarters.  I  have  to  thank  His  Royal  Highness  Prince  Albert 
for  having  permitted  copies  of  many  pieces  in  the  collection 
of  the  original  MSS.  of  Handel,  now  preserved  in  Buckingham 
Palace,  to  be  taken  for  my  use.  Mr.  Surman,  the  conductor  of 
the  orchestra  for  the  London  Sacred  Harmonic  Society,  has 
shown  hunself  ever  ready  to  reply  to  questions  addressed  to  his 
long  experience.  Mr.  R.  Bowley,  the  treasurer,  and  Mr.  W. 
Husk,  the  librarian  of  the  Sacred  Harmonic  Society,  have  kindly, 


Xll  PREFACE. 

and  upon  many  occasions,  opened  to  me  the  rich  and  vast  mu- 
sical Hbrary  which  is  under  their  charge,  Mr.  R.  Lonsdale  has 
commimicated  to  me  some  useful  documents,  collected  in  the 
course  of  his  extensive  reading.  The  Rev.  C.  C.  Babington,  Fel- 
low of  St.  John's  College,  Cambridge  (whose  classical  attain- 
ments have  gained  for  him  a  European  reputation),  also  ren- 
dered me  very  great  assistance,  when  I  visited  Cambridge  for  the 
purpose  of  examining  the  MSS.  in  the  Fitzwilliam  Museum,  and, 
thanks  to  his  aid  and  hospitality,  I  had  no  difficulty  in  accom- 
phshing  the  purpose  of  my  journey.  Nor  must  I  omit  to  offer 
my  grateful  acknowledgments  to  Mr.  Anderson,  who  holds  in  his 
charge  the  Handehan  manuscripts  at  Buckingham  Palace.  With- 
out relaxing  in  any  degree  the  vigilance  which  he  owes  to  those 
admirable  relics,  Mr.  Anderson  has,  with  perfect  courtesy,  given 
me  access  to  them,  never  wearying  of  repeated  visits ;  and,  in- 
deed, it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that,  were  it  not  for  his  valuable 
aid,  my  work  would  have  been  far  more  incomplete  than  I  have 
reason  to  believe  it  really  is.  '  In  addition  to  all  tliis,  I  must 
confess  myself  deeply  indebted  to  Mr.  Horatio  Townsend,  the 
author  of  HandeVs  Visit  to  Duhlin,  whose  elegant  correspondence 
has  been  most  instructive  to  me ;  and  the  reader  will  not  fail  to 
perceive  how  much  useful  information  I  owe  to  Dr.  Rimbault, 
who  has  shown  the  greatest  hberality  in  communicating  what  he 
knows  on  the  subject. 

And  truly  it  needed  all  these  aids  to  bring  my  undertaking  to 
an  issue.  The  necessary  documents  were  not  wanting,  but  they 
were  scattered  about  in  a  thousand  different  places,  and  had 
never  before  been  brought  together.  The  Memoirs  of  the  Life  of 
the  Late  O.  F.  Handel^  published  anonymously  in  1760,  by  the 
Rev.  John  Main  waring,  is  nothing  but  a  summary,  without  much 
exactness;  the  work  of  the  laborious  Sir  John  Hawkins  has 
nothing  more  special  than  the  short  biographical  notices  of  the 
numerous  musicians  whom  he  mentions ;  that  of  Dr.  Burney  is 
(as  he  himself  calls  it)  ''  a  sketch" — a  sketch,  too,  which  was 
traced  with  some  degree  of  haste,  to  be  placed  at  the  head  of  liis 
Account  of  the  Commemoration  of  1784.  At  the  same  time,  I 
set  a  great  value  upon  these  works,  especially  upon  that  of  Dr. 
Burney,  who  occupied  himself  thoroughly,  in  liis  History  of 
Music,  with  the  Italian  operas  of  Handel.  The  labors  which  I 
myself  have  undergone,  compels  me  to  do  full  justice  to  the  re- 
sults which  he  has  produced ;  and  if  I  should  seem  to  take  ex- 


PREFACE.  3011 

ception  to  liim  in  any  respect,  it  is  a  real  homage  to  liis  habitual 
exactness ;  he  has  so  well  cleared  the  road,  that  he  has  rendered 
it  passable  to  tlie  more  severe  and  curious  inquirer,  and  it  is 
really  astonishing  that,  out  of  the  mass  of  documents  wliich  he 
had  to  examine,  and  the  great  number  of  those  which  he  set  in 
order,  he  has  made  so  few  mistakes,*  It  is  not,  therefore,  my 
intention  to  depreciate  what  Mainwaring,  Hawkins,  and  Burney 
have  done.  They  belonged  to  that  race  of  conscientious  men  who 
write  as  if  in  the  performance  of  a  duty,  and  I  admit  that,  with- 
out them,  the  task  of  modern  historians  of  Handel  would  have 
been  almost  an  impossible  one.  What  they  did  was  to  bring  to- 
gether the  materials  out  of  which  an  edifice  may  be  constructed. 
And  yet  (strange  to  relate  !)  though  they  have  been  silent  these 
sixty  years,  no  one  has  attempted  to  perform  the  work  which 
they  prepared.  In  this  country  of  England,  which  Handel  has 
so  illuminated  and  adorned,  and  where  he  has  still  so  many  pas- 
sionate admirers,  not  one  has  yet  been  found  to  tell  the  story  of 
his  life.  It  is  true  that  many  have  touched  upon  this  theme ; 
but  they  have  all  copied,  more  or  less  directly,  the  three  au- 
thors who  have  been  already  named ;  not  caring  to  search  any 
further,  or  even  to  take  the  trouble  of  arranging  that  which  they 
borrowed.! 

Heptinstall,  for  example,  in  his  "  Sacred  Oratorios  and  Miscel- 
laneous Pieces,  as  set  to  Music  by  Handel,"  says  that  "  Flonnda 
and  Daphne  were  composed  at  Hamburg  in  1708"  (Burney's 
date) ;  afterward,  that  the  journey  of  the  composer  into  Italy, 
which  took  place  immediately  after  leaving  Hamburg,  "  lasted 
six  years"  (Mainwaring's  date),  '■'■  and  terminated  in  1710 !" 
Busby  (General  History  of  Music)  explains  to  us  that  Handel 
produced  Roderigo  in  Florence,  in  1702,  and  that  "he  continued 
there  about  a  year,"  that  he  afterward  visited  Venice,  Eome,  and 
Naples,  whence,  "  having  seen  as  much  of  Italy  as  his  curiosity 

*  Burney  wrote  to  Dr.  Quint  of  Dublin  (and  it  may  be  readily  believed)  that 
the  materials  for  his  General  History  of  Music  (four  volumes  in  quarto)  had  cost 
him  £2000 ;  and  all  the  leisure  hours  which  his  profession  allowed  him  during 
thirty  years  were  occupied  in  putting  them  together,  without  estimating  the  ex- 
pense of  the  paper,  the  printing,  the  engraving,  and  the  advertisements  (Town- 
send,  page  99),  Hawkins  worked  for  more  than  thirty  years  at  his  excellent  and 
most  instructive  History  of  Music,  five  volumes  quarto. 

t  Mr.  Horatio  Townsend's  Visit  to  Dublin  must  be  excepted  from  this  criticism. 
He  has  thoroughly  examined  that  part  of  the  life  of  the  great  composer,  bringing 
to  light  a  number  of  curious  facts,  and,  so  far  as  his  subject  extended,  has  left 
nothing  to  be  gleaned  after  him. 


XIV  PREFACE. 

or  his  profession  required,"  lie  went  to  Hanover,  where  "  he  was 
not  long  resolving  on  his  journey  to  England,"  and  that  he  ar- 
rived in  London  "  during  the  winter  of  1710."  Whence  it  would 
appear  that  Handel  occupied  at  least  eigld  years  in  visiting  Venice, 
Rome,  and  Naples ;  a  period  certainly  too  long  for  the  satisfac- 
tion of  mere  ''  curiosity."  Busby,  in  spite  of  his  noble  enthusi- 
asm for  Handel,  continually'  commits  similar  blunders.  It  is 
scarcely  possible  to  imagine  the  extreme  carelessness  of  others. 
Hawkins  wrote  in  1774 :  "  The  Chandos  Anthems  are  about 
twenty  in  number.  As  they  have  not  been  printed,  it  may  be 
some  satisfaction  to  the  curious  to  be  informed  that  the  hbrary 
of  the  Academy  of  Ancient  Music  contaim  the  greatest  part  of 
them."  In  1814,  an  anonymous  writer  published,  in  two  vol- 
umes octavo,  a  Musical  Biography,  etc.,  and  in  the  article  upoa 
Handel  the  above  passage  was  taken  literally  from  Hawkins,  the 
author  being  ignorant  of  the  fact  that,  during  the  sixty  years  that 
had  intervened  since  the  appearance  of  Hawkins's  work,  the 
Twelve  Chandos  Anthems  (all  that  have  ever  existed)  had  been 
printed  two  or  three  times  over ! 

If  I  have  not  been  more  fortunate  than  my  predecessors  in 
avoiding  error,  at  least  it  must  in  justice  be  admitted  that  I  have 
manifested  a  greater  zeal  for  the  truth.  In  every  branch  of  the 
subject  I  have  gone  to  the  fountain-head.  During  more  than  a 
month,  it  was  my  daily  lot  to  examine  the  eighty-seven  volumes 
of  the  great  man's  own  manuscripts  which  are  now  in  Bucking- 
ham Palace,  and  those  were  the  best  moments  which  I  spent 
upon  my  undertaking ;  for  while  I  held  in  my  hands  the  very 
papers  which  he  had  held  in  his,  and  examined  his  own  hand- 
writing, and  copied  his  memoranda,  and  sought  eagerly  for  the 
slightest  particle  of  himself,  it  seemed  to  me  as  if  I  were  hving 
with  Handel ;  and  as  day  by  day  I  grew  to  a  better  understand- 
ing of  the  incessant  labor  with  which  that  fecund  genius  corrected 
and  recorrected  every  thing  which  he  wrote,  the  hours  of  my  la- 
bor seemed  shorter  to  me. 

When  I  visited  Cambridge,  I  found  seven  volumes  of  original 
manuscript,  containing  a  variety  of  detached  pieces  of  very  great 
value,  and  I  obtained  copies  of  all  which  have  been  hitherto  un- 
edited. What  can  be  the  reason  that  no  Englishman  has  ever 
taken  in  hand  these  precious  waifs  and  strays  in  the  Fitzwilham 
Museum  ?  The  small  number  of  those  who  are  aware  of  their 
existence  speak  of  them  as  vaguely  as  if  they  were  at  Kam- 


PREFACE.  XV 

scliatka ;  and  I  have  never  yet  seon  them  qnoteil  anywhere,  not 
even  in  any  one  of  the  fine  editions  of  the  Handel  Society. 
Yet  they  include  many  pieces  which  were  supposed  to  be  lost, 
duplicates  and  first  sketches,  the  competent  examination  of 
which  must  be  of  the  greatest  service  to  modern  inquireis. 
They  possess  all  the  value  which  attaches  to  the  original  sketclies 
of  a  great  master.  Two  monographs  have  been  published  of  the 
marvelous  etchings  of  Rembrandt,  and  the  slightest  relics  of 
Leonardo  da  Yinci  and  of  Michael  Angelo  have  been  engraved 
with  respect;  how  is  it,  then,  that  a  musician  has  not  been 
found  to  edit  and  annotate  these  manuscripts,  and  those  of 
Buckingham  Palace  ?  The  changing  thouglits  of  a  man  hke 
Handel  can  not  but  be  instructive  objects  of  study  and  con- 
templation. 

During  a  period  of  three  months,  Mr.  Rophino  Lacy  has 
conducted  for  me,  at  the  British  Museum,  a  most  minute  re- 
search into  the  journals  of  the  Handelian  period,  by  means  of 
which  I  am  able  to  fix  positively  a  great  many  dates  and  facts 
which  have  hitherto  been  considered  as  doubtful;  and,  in  ad- 
dition, Mr.  Lacy's  own  knowledge  has  been  of  the  utmost  value 
to  me.  I  never  met  with  any  man  better  versed  than  he  is  in 
the  music  of  Handel,  be  it  Italian  or  English ;  for  it  seems  im- 
possible to  produce  any  of  it  to  him  with  which  he  is  not 
perfectly  familiar. 

In  fine,  I  have  neglected  nothing  which  seemed  likely  to 
conduce  to  accuracy.  It  has  been  my  object  to  collect  all  that 
can  be  known  of  the  life  of  Handel,  and  to  give  the  most  exact 
and  the  most  complete  catalogue  of  his  works  which  has  yet  ap- 
peared.* This  chronological  and  bibliographical  catalogue  raiaonne 
contains  all  the  dates,  as  taken  by  myself  from  the  manuscripts 
with  great  care  and  attention,  and  the  compilation  of  it  has  cost 

*  This  Catalogue  will  shortly  he  published  in  a  separate  volume.  The  assist- 
ance which  Mr.  Lacy  has  rendered  me  in  framing  it  amounts  really  to  a  collabo- 
ration. He  it  was  who  made  those  musical  examinations  of  the  manuscripts  at 
Buckingham  Palace,  and  of  the  scores  which  Handel  himself  used  when  he  con- 
ducted his  own  works,  which  have  so  materially  assisted  me  in  my  task.  The 
details  of  the  Catalogue  which  indicate  technical  knowledge  are  his  work,  not 
mine;  for  I  am  no  professed  musician.  This  also  seems  to  be  the  proper  place 
for  acknowledging  the  liberality  of  Mr.  Lennard,  who  possesses  a  manuscript 
collection  of  Handel's  works,  which  is  almost  complete,  and  which  he  has  always, 
with  the  greatest  generosity,  placed  at  the  disposal  of  Mr.  Lacy.  Like  a  true 
amateur,  Mr.  Lennard  is  free  from  that  selfishness  which  glories  in  the  possession 
of  treasures  only  for  the  pleasure  of  possessing  them. 


XVI  PREFACE. 

much  more  time  and  labor  than  the  Biography  itself.  Perhaps, 
if  I  could  have  foreseen  what  researches  it  necessitated,  I  should 
not  have  undertaken  the  task ;  but  now  that  it  is  finished,  I  am 
very  far  from  regretting  the  labor  which  I  have  expended  upon 
it.  The  reader  will  readily  believe  that  a  compilation  of  tliis 
kind  presents  very  great  difficulties ;  there  are  so  many  dates  to 
compare,  to  verify,  and  to  reconcile,  and  so  many  obscure  points 
to  be  cleared  up  ;  and  often  have  I  found  it  necessary  to  write, 
or  to  rewrite,  dilTerent  articles,  three,  four,  or  five  times  over. 
These  are  sore  trials  to  the  patience,  and  one  is  apt  to  ask  one's 
self,  in  the  hour  of  weariness,  whether  the  result  is  worthy  of 
the  labor.  But  then  there  are  compensations ;  one  has  the  hope 
of  doing  something  that  may  be  useful,  and  one  feels  a  singular 
satisfaction  in  discovering  the  explanation  of  a  fact  hitherto  in- 
comprehensible, in  recovering,  as  it  were,  the  lost  link  of  a  broken 
chain.  Moreover,  it  is  incontestable  that  these  reconstructive 
studies  have  afforded  me  much  hght  as  to  the  hfe  of  the  great 
ma'tstro  ;  they  have  enabled  me  both  to  see  better  and  to  pene- 
trate deeper.  The  dryness  of  mere  details  disappears  entirely 
when  the  discovery  of  a  chef-d'oeuvre  is  made,  and  it  will  be 
seen  that  that  good  fortune  has  not  been  denied  me.  But  I 
shall  regret  neither  time  nor  labor  if  the  work  contributes  in 
any  degree  to  the  glory  uf  the  giant  of  music ;  and  my  best 
wishes  will  be  fulfilled  if  amateurs  derive  any  benefit  from  my 
investigations. 

In  spite  of  all  the  care  and  pains  which  have  been  expended, 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  many  errors  have  been  committed, 
and  I  shall  therefore  regard  it  as  a  friendly  office,  if  those  who 
discover  any  such  will  kindly  point  them  out  to  me,  through  the 
address  of  the  pubhsher.  When  the  truth  has  been  sought  for 
in  good  faith,  something  useful  may  be  gathered  by  the  skillful 
inquirer,  even  from  the  mistakes  of  his  predecessor. 

As  for  my  observations  upon  Handel  and  the  art  which  he 
illustrated,  I  shall  say,  with  Montaigne,  "  I  offer  them  to  the 
reader  not  as  good,  but  as  mine."  If  they  have  any  merit  at 
all,  it  is  because  they  express  the  musical  sensuousness  of  a  man 
who  is  so  untechnical  that  he  would  be  hard  put  to  it  to  read 
the  gamut. 

In  conclusion,  I  would  observe  that  the  hfe  of  Handel  can 
only  be  written,  and  his  works  can  only  be  studied,  in  England. 
There  only  is  he  well  and  widely  known ;  there  only  is  he  sung, 


PREFACE.  XVU 

and  played,  and  venerated  as  he  deserves  to  be.  Happy  shall  I 
be  if  the  publication  of  this  vfork,  by  recalling  to  my  country- 
men the  memory  of  a  great  master  whom  they  know  too  little 
of,  shall  suggest  to  them  the  regular  performance  of  his  immor- 
tal works.  May  the  choruses  and  singers  of  Paris  form,  for  that 
purpose,  an  association  analogous  to  that  which  Habeneck 
brought  together  at  the  Conservatoire  for  the  performance  of 
symphonies.  There  can  be  Httle  doubt  that  the  French  public 
would  not  be  slow  to  reward  such  an  effort.  So  long  as  France 
deprives  herself  of  the  oratorios  of  Handel,  there  will  be  found 
within  her  a  great  deficiency  in  the  culture  of  Musical  Art. 

V.   SCHCELCHER. 

London,  April  6,  1857. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    I. 

1685—1708. 

PAGE 
Birth  of  Handel — Ilis  nanios — Ilis  imipicnl  teiidoncics— His  f-ither  opposes 
tliem — Ilis  early  sludifts — Jouriuy  to  Berlin,  wiiere  he  appears  as  a  pnidigy 
— Memoirs  of  his  Life,  by  Mainwaring — Ecturu  to  Halle  and  new  studies — 
Collection  of  his  musical  books  bequeathed  to  Smith — He  settles  at  Ham- 
burg— Duel  with  Mattheson — Almifci,  IsFero,  Daphne,,  Florinda — Cantata 
071  the  Passion — Journe}'  to  Florence — Roderigo — Hawkins  to  be  con- 
sulted with  caution — Agrippina  at  Venice — Sacred  Latin  mu.sic  at  Itome — 
Hesurrecsione,  Silla — II  Trionfo  del  Tempjo — Conipetitiou  with  Scarlatti — 
Cardinal  Ottoboni - 25 


CHAPTER    II. 
1708—1720. 

Aci  e  GaUxttea  at  Naples — French  songs — Journey  to  Hanover — Arrival  in 
London— Commencement  of  the  Italian  Opera  in  England — Addison  and 
Steele  against  the  Italian  Opera — Rinnldo — Addison's  critique — Keturn  to 
Hanover — Cantatas  and  Chamher  Buets  at  Hanover— lleappearance  in 
England — Ode  for  Queen  Anne's  Birth-day — Fastor  Fido,  Tesco — Chapel- 
inasters  of  the  English  sovereigns — Utrecht  Te  Deum  and  Jubilate — Per- 
formances oil  the  harpsichord — Thomas  Britton — First  public  concerts  in 
England — Handel  settles  in  England — Wiiter  Jhisie — Amadigi — Tableaux 
vivants  in  1710 — Heidegger — Stay  at  Burlington  House — Journey  into  Ger- 
many— Passion,  German  oratorio — Anecdotes  of  Handel  and  Smith,  by 
W.  Coxe — Cannons,  mansion  of  the  Duke  of  Chandos — Handel  becomes 
chapel-master  of  the  duke— Chandos  Te  Deum  and  Anthems— Chardcter 
of  Handel's  sacred  music — The  so-called  true  style  of  church-music — Sev- 
eral of  the  Chandos  Anthems  reduced  for  the  royal  chapels— Three  Hymns 
written  for  Mrs.  Rich 42 


CHAPTER    III. 

720—1729. 

Handel  directs  tho  Italian  Opera  for  the  Eoyal  Academy  of  Music — Another 
journey  to  Italy  and  Germany— Annual  subscriptions  at  the  Italian  Opera- 
French  comedians  at  the  Haymarket — Radarnisto,  edition  of  this  work — 
Piratical  publications— Handel  naturalized— ^s^Aer,  Acis  arid  Galatea — 
The  present  organ  of  Whitchurch,  inEdgeware,  has  been  played  by  Handel 


XX  CONTENTS. 

PASB 

— Cannons  pulled  down— The  Dnke  of  Chandos  buys  his  third  wife — Suites 
de  Pieces  pour  le  Clavecin — TJie  Rarmonioun  Blacksmith — The  environs 
of  London  in  1720 — Muzlo  Scaivola — Bononcini  and  Attilio  Ariosti — Cabal 
arising  aijainst  Ifandcl — Swift's  ef^igrara  and  Carey's  answer — Floridante^ 
Ottoue — Signora  Cuzzoni — Giulio  Cesare — Tamerlane,  EocJelinda — Han- 
del's Italian  airs  transmuted  into  sacred  songs — The  evil  of  such  adaptations 
,  — Adulteration  of  laracl  in  E(jyi>t  and  other  oratorios — Scipio,  Alexander 
— First  inipre&bion  of  God  Save  the  King — Exploit  of  Senesino  in  Alexa7i- 
der— Ad ?/it  to— The  Cuzzouists  and  the  Faustinists— Siguora  Cuzzoni  sen- 
tenced to  deatli — Ricardo  V^ — Coronation  Anthemn — Siroe — Tolmneo—^ 
The  Beggar's  Opera — Its  popularity  even  to  the. present  daj'— The  failure 
of  the  Eoyal  Academy  of  Music  from  the  date  of  its  commencement — Sad 
expedients — The  ruin  of  the  Italian  Opera  attributed  to  the  inconstant 
temper  of  the  English  nation — Dissolution  of  the  Eoyal  Academy  of  Music 
— Not  every  opera  produced  with  fresh  costumes  and  scenes — Danger  of 
the  present  costly  mise-en-scene — Public  indiflferonce  tho  only  cause  of  the 
Academy's  dissolution T4 


CHAPTER    IV. 
1729—1732. 

Handel  takes  the  Italian  -theater  with  Heidegger— Songstresses  performing  a 
man's  part  much  in  vogue — Lotha?'io,  FartheJiope—FuhViiihing  arrange- 
ments Avith  Walsh — Twenty  guineas  paid  for  each  oratorio  by  the  publisher 
— The  labor  of  the  intellect  underrated — AValsh — His  editions  uncommonly 
bad — His  chorophobia — luditference  of  the  composers  of  the  last  century 
with  regard  to  the  publication  of  their  works — Poms — Character  of  the 
Italian  and  French  operas — Great  Britain  infested  with  shepherdesses  as 
France  was — Ferocity  of  the  laws — The  thousands  of  marriages  enacted 
every  night  upon  the  stage — All  the  operatic  heroes  of  Handel  very  sleepy 
—^sio— Failure  of  all  the  productions  of  Handel — Esther,  the  first  English 
oratorio — Origin  of  oratorios — Acted  with  dances  iii'  the  churches — Their 
performance  without  action — Composed  from  a  theatrical  point  of  view — 
Prohibition  of  their  performance  with  action — Arrangement  of  the  orches- 
tra— Acis  and  Galatea — Mrs.  Cibber — Acis  sung  partly  in  English  and 
partly  in  Italian — Alchymist  Music — Ben  Jonson's  nicmoranda— jTipe^^e 
Sonatas  or  Solos,  opera  la — lubtrumental  in\i:Mc  of  alandtl— X/.r  Sonatas 
Trios,  opera  2a — Seven  Sotiatas  Trios,  opera  5a — Orlando — Violetta  ma- 
rina— The  violin  family — Castrucci — Four  lyric  theaters  in  London  in 
1733      .       .       .       : .        .110 


fiPei 


CHAPTER    V, 
1733. 


yebora^^-Jjeiter  of  Rolli  against  Handel— Handel  and  Walpole  conspirators 
rj  — His  orchestra— Monster  bassoons— The  bellowing  system— Handel's  cho- 
'4^ruses— His  einploymi-nt  of  instruments— Fifty-six  wind  instruments  in  his 
Fireworks  Music— The  strength  of  his  orchestra  is  unknown— His  band 
uncommonly  powerful— Ho  used  the  side  drum— His  MSS.  never  before 
explored— He  had  already  done  for  the  accompaniment  of  The  Messiah 
what  Mozart  did— He  liusbandf.(l  his  means -The  abus.-  of  great  orchestras 
— All  the  cotemporuries  of  ilautlcl  reproach  hiui  with  ;i  fondness  for  noiso 
/     — Goupy's  caricature— Accusation  of  profanity—Quarrel  with  Senesino— 
/       The  latter  was  not  a  model  of  sweetness  of  te'mper — The  nobilitv  espouse 
\       the  cause  of  Senesino— Coalition  against  Handel-  Piediloction  of  the  eight- 
-^^enth  century  for  high  voices— Handel  shared  it — Bononcini  and  the  Mad- 
rigal of  Lotti— Dr.  Green- Bononcini  loaves  England 146 


CONTENTS.  XXI 

CHAPTER    VI. 
1733—1737. 

PAQQ 

Athalia  at  a  Public  Act  of  Oxford— Boctorshlp  of  music — Handel's  Italian 
artists  join  tlie  coalition — Journey  to  Italy  in  1733 — A  rival  theater  opened 
by  the  coalition,  with  Farinelli— The  revolting  spectacle  offered  by  the 
royal  family  of  England  at  that  time — MS.  of  pasticcios  by  Handel — Ari- 
adne— Jests  against  the  two  rival  Italian  theaters — Panntsso  in  Festa — 
Wedding  Anthem  for  tho  Princess  Anne — Indomitable  energy  displayed 

tby  Handel — J^nltbois  Concertos,  opera  Ssi — Farjufft  for  the  Organ — Han- 
del becomes  impressario — Open  war  between  him  and  the  nobility — Ar- 
buthnot's  satire  in  his  favor— Handel  at  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields  Theater — 
Terpsichore — Masques — Melancholic  dances — Passacaille — Orestes — Ario- 
danie — Mile.  Salle — Artaxerxes,  Ify  Hasse — Alcina — Performances  of  or- 
gan concertos  by  Handel — His  reclames — A  letter  of  his  dated  1735 — Pre- 
sumption about  the  author  of  the  poem  of  Saul — Alexander's  Feast — 
Preface  of  Hamilton  to  Alexander's  Feast — His  dedication  of  it  to  Han- 
del— Publication  of  Aleicander''s  Feast — Dryden's  good  opinion  of  his  own 
ode— St.  Cecilia— ^toZrtTi^a— The  mise-en-scene  of  those  days— The  Prin- 
cess Augusta  very  fond  of  kneeling — Wedding  A7itheni  for  the  Prince  of 
Wales— F/;v  3rufiic—  Arminius — Justin — II  Trionfo  del  Tempo,  Bere- 
nice— Failure  of  Handel — Euin  of  the  rival  opera-house — Farinelli  him- 
self disregarded — ^Artistic  ignorance  of  that  epoch — Confidence  of  Handel's 
creditors  in  him 179 


CHAPTER    VII. 

1737—1741. 

Illness  and  journey  to  Aix-la-Chapelle — Faramondo — Funeral  Anthem — 
George  the  Second  and  his  wife — Dr.  Pepusch — G.iff;irol!i- -Xi?/v;v>,<f — An 
Oratorio — Yauxhall  and  Marybone  Gardens — Statue  erected  to  Handel — 
Roubiliac — ^AU  the  great  intelligences  of  the  age  x>ronounco  in  favor  of 
Handel — His  last  operas  engraved  by  subscription — The  family  of  Bruns- 
wick were  all  determined  Handelians — Organ  Concertos,  opera  4" — Organ 
performances  of  Handel — Saul — At  the  present  day  too  few  of  the  master's 
works  are  performed — Israel  in  Egijpt — Italian  romances  intermixed  in  it 
— Its  radical  failure — Israel  in  Egypt  adulterated  by  arrangers  in  1763 — 
New  adulterations  committed-  in  1838 — The  composer  adds  names  of  per- 
sonages iu  the  first  part  oi  Israel,  as  given  in  175G — The  present  popularity 
of  such  a  work  proves  the  high  state  of  musical  education  in  England — 
Many  instances  of  imitative  nmsic  in  Handel— Similar  instances  in  all  the 
greatest  composers — The  best  poets  have  made  imitative  poetry — All  that 
art  can  produce  is  acceptable — Handel  alwajs  makes  music  speaking  to  the  , 
mind — He  was  compared  to  Cicero  and  Demosthenes — Jupiter  in  Argos — 
Ode  on  St.  Cecilia's  Day — Dry  den  on  this  Ode — Seveyi  Sonatas  or  Trios, 
opera  5» — Trcelve  Grand  Concertos,  opera  C" — They  seem  to  have  become 
public  property  during  the  lifetime  of  the  author — Handel's  dwelling — Por- 
pora's  iJaiud — Handel's  overwhelming  labors — Jj Allegro,' II  Peiif^eroso, 
andll  Moderato — Charles  Jennens — Handel's  attachment  to  Italian  operas 
— Imeneo  and  Deidamia — His  annual  perforniances  for  the  decayed  musi- 
cians— His  playbills  turn  down  by  his  emunies — His  prospect  of  leaving 
England — Others  make  their  market  of  his  works — He  renounce^ltftiian 

'  operas — Lord  Middlesex  reopens  the  Italian  theater — His  supporte'-s  em- 
ploy lawyers  from  the  Bear  Gardens — Lord  Middlesex  retires  from  business 
— Failure  of  Dr.  Croza,  his  successor— Italian  Opera  in  England  less  a 
taste  than  a  fashion 213 


XXU  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    VIII. 
1741—1742. 

PAOK 

HarKlel's  cruel  position — Mr.  Townsend  and  Mr.  Flnlayson — Aristocratic  com- 
position of  the  Academy  of  Music  at  Dublin — The  Irish  Society  for  the 
Benefit  of  Prisoners  for  Debt — The  calendar,  old  and  new  style — Verses 
and  opinion  of  Pope  on  Handel — Handel  at  Chester — Arrival  at  Dublin — 
Subscription  Concerts  there — Handel's  letter  from  Dublin — Penelope  by 
Galuppi — List  of  performances  at  Dublin — First  advertisement  of  Tlie  Mes- 
siah— The  rehearsal — The  first  performance — Mrs.  Cibber  in  The  3Iessiah 
— The  fashion  of  hoops — Handel  enjoys  some  i-epose  in  Dublin — Forest 
Ifusic — First  performance  of  The  3/essiah  in  London — Called  "  A  Sacred 
Oratorio" — Handel  defended  against  the  accusation  of  profanation — The 
newspapers  of  the  eighteenth  century  had  no  artistic  criticism — Origin  of 
the  custom  of  rising  during  the  Hallelujah — Unwarrantable  alterations  in 
some  pieces  of  The  Jlessiah — The  power  of  custom  in  England — The  Sa- 
cred Harmonic  Society  has  broken  through  the  bonds  of  a  bad  custom — TEe 
new  passion  for  contrast  between  pianissiuio  and  fortissimo — Coolness 
shown  by  cotemporaries  toward  The  Messiah — Its  success  dates  only  from 
1750 — The  author  of  the  libretto  not  satisfied  with  the  music — This  super- 
human work  written  in  twenty-three  days — Phenomenon  in  the  produc- 
tions of  men  of  genius — Five  different  versions  of  the  air  "  How  beautiful" 
—Four  choruses  drawn  from  two  chamber  duets — Fifty  sermons  preached 
on  the  oratorio — Its  popularity — L^nknown  only  in  France — It  continbutes 
to  all  kinds  of  charities — Handel  gave  it  this  direction — The  Foundling 
Hospital — Performances  of  Jfessiahtor  this  institution— Handel  gives  them 
a  copy  of  the  score — It  brftught  into  their  funds  £10,300 — Handel  gave  also 
a  copy  to  the  charitable  Musical  Society  of  Dublin — The  first  book  of 
"  Songs  in  The  Messialt'''  not  printed  before  1763 — First  entire  edition  in 
1768— It  has  now  reached  forty-four  editions— Printed  handbooks  of  it       .  262 


.  CHAPTER    IX. 

/  5  ^^    1742—1752. 


Letter  of  Handel  as  to  his  prospects— His  influence  on  the  musical  taste  of 
Ireland — He  regrets  the  Italian  Opera — Samson — Publication  of— Eulogium 
of  Handel  by  the  author  of  the  words — Copyist's  bill — The  singer  Beard 
and  his  marriage — Dettingen  Te  Denm  and  Anthem — Handel  wrote  a  great 
deal  for  the  trumpet — Praise  of  the  composer  by  Miller,  the  author  or  Jo- 
seph— Semele — Correspondence  of  Handel  on  Be)shazzar — Announced  un- 
der the  name  of  Belteshazzar — Allegro  postHlions — ITercn/es — Advertise- 
ment of  twenty-four  performances  by  subscription — Handel  obliged  to  stop 
on  the  sixteenth — Opposition  to  his  entertainments — The  ladies  of  quality 
against  him — Russell  and  his  puppet-show — Horace  Walpole  laughs  at  the 
music  of  Handel — "The  Roast  Beef  of  Old  England" — Handel  paid  his  per- 
formers generously — His  second  failure — Occasional  Oratorio  is  not  a 
compilation — Analysis  of  it — "O  libertj'-,  thou  choicest  treasure,"  taken 
from  Occasional  Oratorio — "  Rule  Britannia"  made  out  of  music  by  Han- 
del— Date  of  this  song — Dr.  Morrell— "  God  save  the  King"  is  by  Dr.  .John 
Bull— Explanations  about  the  title  of  Occasional  Oratorio— Th^xs,  work 
given  only  to  make  good  the  subscriptions  of  the  preceding  year — Judas 
Maccaba'ics — Secondary  place  of  the  poem  in  the  collaboration  of  the  poet 
and  the  composer — Dedication  of  Judas  Ma^'caba'us  to  the  Duke  of  Cum- 
berland— The  Jews  contribute  to  the  popularity  of  this  oratorio — "  See  the 
conquering  hero,"  taken  from  JosJuia — Said  to  be  intended  to  please  the 
vulgar — Not  performed  as  it  ought  to  be — La  Cacluta  de'  Giganti  by  Gluck 
— Lucins  Veriis — Otho  given  by  the  nobility's  theater — Alessand/'o.  as  it 
was  performed  by  Lord  Middlesex — M.  Azais — Alexander  Buelns — Joshna, 
— The  flourish  of  warlike  instruments — Sitsannah — Solomon — Performance 


CONTENTS.  XXlll 

PAGB 

of  the  oratorios  during  the  lifetime  of  Handel— Peculiarity  of  the  MS.  of 
Solomon — Fireirorks  Music— M^inAy.'X  always  careful  of  varying  the  effects 
of  sonority — The  rehearsal  of  tliis  work  at  Vauxhall  {.fHvAQna— Foundling 
Hospital  Anthem — Theodora — Anecdotes  about  Theodora — Last  visit  to 
GermawY— Choice  of  Hercules  made  out  of  Alcestes—Alcesf^s  not  per- 
formed ..." -  296 


CHAPTER    X. 
1752—1759. 

JepJitJia — First  attack  of  gutta  serena — Blindness — In  the  last  century  the 
first  violin  was  leader  of  the  orchestra — Handel  requires  Smith  to  assist 
him  in  the  performance  of  his  oratorios — Handel  conducts  his  entertain- 
ments in  spite  of  his  blindness— John  Stanley— Was  Handel  totally  blind? 
—  Triumjyh  of  Time  and  Truth — Handel  masters  age  and  inlirmities — His 
last  performances — His  death — An  acrostie  the  only  homage  paiil  him  by 
the  newspapers — Last  manifestation  of  old  hatreds — All  hostilities  stilled — 
Public  homage  by  Garrick  to  Handel— Large  profits  from  1750  to  1759— The 
genius  of  Handel  universally  recognized — His  music  performed  everywhere 
in  1751 — Confections  of  it  under  a  thousand  different  forms — Works  of  his 
performed  in  1759 — Smith  and  Stanley  continue  to  give  his  oratorios  for 
many  years — Pasticcio  oratorios  made  out  of  his  compositions — The  orato- 
rio is  now  an  English  indigenous  composition — Einmanuel  by  Mr.  Leslie  . 


CHAPTER    XI. 

Handel's  will — His  strange  pre-occupation  about  his  future  glory — New  proof 
of  his  admirable  honesty — His  funeral — His  mouument  at  Westminster 
Abbey — The  date  of  his  birth  to  be  corrected  on  it — Commemoration  of 
17S4 — Programme  of  it — Account  of  it  by  Burney— The  devotees  blame 
the  selection  of  Westminster  Abbey  to  hold  it  in — Their  scruples  prevail  in 
1886 — Clergymen  assisting  in  the  execution  of  the  festival  in  the  last  cen- 
tury— Increasing  popularity  of  Handel  after  the  Commemoration — Smith 
gives  his  MSS.  to  George  III. — "If  I  were  the  queen,"  Avhat  I  would  do  for 
this  collection — Harpsichord  of  Handel — Marble  busts  of  him  by  Eoubiliac 
— His  head  modeled  after  death — Portraits  by  Dcnner,  by  Wolfand,  by 
Hudson,  by  Grafoni,  by  Thornhill,  and  by  Kite 860 


CHAPTER    XII. 

The  personal  appearance  of  Handel — He  was  extremely  witty — But  inoffen- 
sive— Very  reserved — Very  absent — His  religious  sentiments — His  liberal- 
it}^ — His  contributions  to  the  Society  of  Decayed  Musicians — Names  of  the 
founders  of  this  society — He  was  one  of  the  benefactors  of  the  Foundling 
Hospital — His  impatience  of  rivalry — Eefuses  to  be  dependent  on  any  one 
— How  badly  Ha3'dn  was  treated — Mozart  at  table  with  valets — Handel's 
dedication  of  Badninif^to  to  the  king — Haym's  dedication  of  GiuUo  Cesare 
to  the  Princess  nf  Wales — iriindel's  elevation  of  mind — What  was  said 
about  his  noble  character  by  all  liis  cotemporaries — A  socialist  by  anticipa- 
tion— Violence  of  temper — He  rei)aired  his  faults  frankly — The  grossness 
of  his  language — Licentiousness  of  conversation  at  that  time — His  impetu- 
osity of  temper  would  not  make  allowances  for  any  body — Scene  of  vio- 
lence— His  musical  impressionability — He  had  no  habits — The  confusion  of 
tonsues  in  his  MSS. — Too  fond  of  good  cheer— His  sentiments  of  affection 
not  very  strongly  developed — Love  affairs — He  lived  a  retired  life — Con- 
noisseur of  pictures — Mnsicol  genius  more  fertile  than  literary  genius — 
Handel  exceedingly  fruitful — Examples  of  his  astonishing  powers  of  labor— 


XXIV  CONTENTS. 

PAOB 

His  celerity  of  composition— Gluck  producing  in  grief— Hand  el  constantly 
perfecting  bis  works — Grandeur,  the  distinctive  characteristic  of  his  style 
— The  power  of  his  choruses — His  versatility — A  great  painter  in  words — 
His  works  full  of  local  color — He  excels  in  recitatives — lie  is  constantly 
clear  and  natural — His  instrumental  music  as  beautiful  as  his  vocal  music — 
What  Haydn,  Mozart,  and  Beethoven  said  of  him — Beethoven's  dying  re- 
quest to  bring  the  works  of  Handel  to  his  chamber — Handel  as  a  performer 
— As  a  singer — The  keys  of  his  harpsichord  hollowed  by  his  incessant  prac- 
tice— He  had  an  indirect  part  in  the  great  events  of  his  century — All  the 
serious  English  music  is  Handeliau— He  upheld  the  dignity  of  art  to  the 
highest  standard 878 


APPENDIX. 

A.— The  Smith  Collection ,       .  425 

B.— German  Edition  of  Handel 425 

C— Handel's  Visit  to  Italy 426 

D.— London  Theaters  in  the  Olden  Time 430 

E.— The  Sons  of  the  Clergy 432 

F. — The  Harmonious  Blacksmith 432 

G. — The  Ee-engagement  of  Senesino 434 

H.— Del  Po's  Letter 43T 

I.— Rolli's  Libel 438 

J.— The  Clarinet .  440 

K. — Pasticcios 441 

L. — The  High  Prices  given  to  gi'eat  Singers 442 

M.— Depraved  Taste  in  the  Eighteenth  Century 444 

N.— The  State  of  Music  in  England .        .  447 

O.— Handel's  House 458 

P.— Where  was  The  Messiah  first  produced  ? 459 

Q.— "  How  Beautiful" 465 

E. — Pretended  Plagiarism 465 

S.— Price  of  Places 467 

T.— One  of  Handel's  Conversations 468 

U.— Handel's  Household  Property 472 

V. — Handel's  Harpsichord 474 

W. — The  Magnificat  in  Israel .       .  477 

LIST  OF  MUSIC .        .  480 

INDEX        .  483 


LIFE    OF   HANDEL. 


CHAPTER    I. 

1685—1709. 

BxRTn  OF  Handel— IIis  Musical  Tendencies — His  Early  Studies — Journey 
TO  Berlin,  where  he  appeared  as  a  Prodigy — Return  to  Halle,  and 
New  Studies — Journey  to  Hamburg — A  Duel — First  Dramatic  Works, 
"  Almira,"  "  Nero,"  "  Daphne,"  and  "  Florinda" — Journey  into  Italy — 
Explanations  as  to  Dates  connected  with  the  Earlier  Part  of  Han- 
del's Life — "  Eoderigo"  produced  at  Florence — "Agrippina"  at  Venice 
— Sacred  Music  at  Eome — "  La  Kesurreczione" — "  Silla" — "  II  Trionfo 
del  Tempo." 

George  Feideric  Handel  ^vas  born  at  Halle,  on  the 
Saale,  in  the  Duchy  of  Magdeburg,  Lower  Saxony. 
One  of  his  compatriots,  a  laborious  compiler,  such  as 
Germany  only  produces,  M.  Karl  Eduard  Forstemann, 
has  published  his  genealogy,  at  Leipsic,*  and  he  proves, 
by  the  registers  of  the  Lutheran  Church  of  Notre  Dame 
de  St.  Laurent,  at  Halle,  where  the  great  musician  was 
baptized,  that  his  true  German  names  are  Georg  Fried- 
rich  Handel,  and  that  the  family  name  is  written  in  five 
different  ways — Handel,  Hendel,  Handeler,  Hendeler, 
and  Hendtler ;  but  most  commonly  Handel.  A  trace 
of  this  fluctuation  of  the  family  name  may  be  found  in 
the  will  of  Handel  himself,  in  which  he  leaves  £300  to 
his  "  cousin  Christianna  Susannah  Handelin."  Li  Italy 
he  constantly  signed  his  name  Hendel ;  but,  from  the 
commencement  of  his  residence  in  England,  down  to 
the  day  of  his  death,  he  invariably  signed,  George  Frid- 
eric  Handel  ;  and  that,  therefore,  appears  to  be  the 
*  See  list  of  works  consulted. 
2 


2G  ',TF^     OF,   HANDEL. 

orlliograpliy  of  his  names  wliicli  ]ias  tlie  best  right  to  be 
preserved.  The  English  have  been  quite  as  ingenious 
as  the  Germans  in  discovering  variations  for  tliis  name ; 
for  it  has  been  written  Hendall,  Hendell,  Handell,  Han- 
dle, Hondel,  and  Haendel. 

All  the  biographers — English,  French,  and  German — 
agree  in  stating  that  he  was  born  on  the  24th  of  February, 
1684.  This  also  is  the  date  which  is  carved  upon  his 
tomb  in  Westminster  Abbey ;  but,  nevertheless,  it  is 
erroneous.  M.  Forsteraann  thus  refers  to  the  subject: — 
"  Dreyhaupt,  in  his  '  Description  of  the  Province  of  the 
Saale,'  has  alone  given  the  correct  date  of  Handel's  birth, 
which  is  the  23d  of  February,  1685.  (Vol.  ii.,  p.  625.) 
In  fact,  it  may  be  seen  by  the  books  of  the  Church  of 
Kotre  Dame  de  St.  Laurent,  at  Halle,  that  Handel  was 
baptized  there  on  the  24th  of  February,  1685,  and  it  is 
known  that  at  that  time  the  baptism  always  took  place 
on  the  day  after  the  birth.  In  addition  to  this,  the  rare 
veracity  and  perfect  information  which  Dreyhaupt  mani- 
fests in  every  thing  that  relates  to  our  town,  speak  for 
themselves  in  favor  of  his  assertion." 

Handel  himself  had  previously  confirmed  this  rectifi- 
cation of  this  date,  without  any  body  perceiving  it.  In 
the  manuscript  of  Solomon,  after  having  signed,  and 
dated  it  the  13th  of  June,  1748,  he  adds,  "  ^tatis  63  ;" 
and  in  that  o^  Susannah.,  dated  the  9t]i  of  August  in  the 
same  year,  he  again  adds,  "^tatis  63  ;"  finally,  JepMha 
is  signed,  "30th  of  August,  1751,  a3tatis  66,  G.  F.  Han- 
del." If  the  author  of  Susannah  and  of  JephiJia  had 
been  born  in  1684,  he  would  have  been  sixty-four  years 
old  in  1748,  and  sixty-seven  in  1751.* 

"  As  irandel  lias  liimself  decltircd  his  age  upon  several  occasions,  it 
is  difficult  to  explain  the  obstinacj'^  with  which,  for  more  than  a  century, 
this  blunder  has  been  persisted  in,  otherwise  than  by  the  blind  readiness 
with  which  writers  copy  certain  assertions  from  each  other  when  once 
they  have  become  current.  Tlie  truth,  however,  did  not  escape  all  hi& 
cotemporaries.  In  the  list  of  celebrated  deaths  for  the  year  1759,  in 
the  Gentleman^ s  Magazine,  may  be  found — "  G.  F.  Handel^  Esq.,  a  great 


MUSICAL    TENDENCIES.  27 

All  vocations,  be  they  ever  so  strong,  do  not  invariably 
lead  to  something  great :  frequently  they  become  abor- 
tive ;  often,  after  casting  a  supernatural  light  for  a  time, 
they  are  suddenly  extinguished,  or  at  best  never  surpass 
mediocrity.  Nevertheless,  all  great  artists  come  into 
the  world  with  a  vocation  which  manifests  itself,  in  their 
earliest  years,  in  a  remarkable,  im})erious,  and  irresistible 
manner.  George  Frideric  Handel  was  such  a  one.  His 
father,  who  was  a  surgeon,  and  was  sixty-three  years  old 
when  this  child  first  saw  the  light,  determined  to  make 
a  lawyer  of  him  ;  but  Nature  had  resolved  to  make  him 
a  composer,  and  the  struggle  between  Nature  and  the 
father  commenced  at  the  very  cradle  of  the  future  author 
of  TJie  Messiah.  Scarcely  had  he  begun  to  speak,  when 
he  articulated  musical  sounds.  The  doctor,  who  was  the 
son  of  Valentin  Handel,  a  master  coppersmith,  was  ter- 
ribly alarmed  when  he  discovered  instincts  of  so  low  an 
order  in  his  eyes.  He  understood  nothing  of  Art,  nor 
of  the  noble  part  Avhich  artists  sustain  in  the  world  ;  he 
saw  in  them  nothing  but  a  sort  of  mountebank,  v>ho 
amuse  the  world  in  its  idle  moments.  "Music,"  said  he, 
"  was  an  elegant  art  and  a  fine  amusement ;  yet,  if  con- 
sidered as  an  occupation,  it  had  little  dignity,  as  having 
for  its  subject  nothing  better  than  mere  pleasure  and 
entertainment."*  Uneasy,  and  almost  ashamed  at  the 
inclinations  of  his  son,  the  father  of  Handel  opposed 
them  by  all  possible  means.  He  would  not  send  him  to 
any  of  the  public  schools,  because  there  not  only  gram- 
mar but  the  gamut  would  be  taught  him ;  he  would  not 
permit  him  to  be  taken  to  any  pla(;e,  of  whatever  de- 
musician.  He  was  bom  in  Geniiany,  in  1685."  But  Mainwaring,!  who 
wrote  the  earliest  biographical  notice  of  the  great  musician,  placed  the 
date  at  1684,  and  every  one  has  copied  his  mistake.  It  is,  however, 
quite  certain  that  Handel  was  born  on  the  23d  of  February,  16S5,  and 
not  on  the  24th  of  February,  1684. 

*  Mainwariug,  p.  10. 

1.  For  this,  and  all  other  authorities  that  may  be  quoted  in  tliis  volume,  see 
list  of  consulted  ^7orks. 


28  L  I  F  E     O  F     H  A  N  D  E  L  . 

scription,  where  he  could  hear  music ;  he  forbad  him  the 
slightest  exercise  of  that  nature,  and  banished  every 
kind  of  musical  instrument  far  from  the  house.  But  he 
might  as  well  have  told  the  river  that  it  was  not  to  flow. 
Nature  surmounted  every  obstacle  to  her  decree.  The 
precautions  taken  to  stifle  the  instincts  of  the  child  served 
only  to  fortify  by  concentrating  them.  He  found  means 
to  procure  a  clavichord,  or  dumb  spinet,*  and  to  conceal 
it  in  a  garret,  whither  he  went  to  play  when  all  the 
household  was  asleep.  This  fact,  incredible  as  it  may 
appear,  is  positively  aftirmed  by  Mainwaring,  and  both 
Hawkins  and  Burney  also  attach  credit  to  it.  Although 
the  clavichord  was  a  sort  of  square  box,  which  was 
placed  upon  a  table,  we  must  at  least  suppose  that  either 
the  nurse  or  the  mother  of  the  child  were  his  accom- 
plices, and  that  he  had  acquired  certain  ideas  upon  the 
subject  before  music  was  forbidden  him.  However  that 
may  have  been,  Nature  is  said  to  have  been  his  first 
teacher.  Without  any  guidance,  finding  out  every  thing 
for  himself,  and  merely  by  permitting  his  little  fingers  to 
wander  over  the  key-board,  he  produced  harmonic  com- 
binations ;  and  at  seven  years  of  age,  he  discovered  that 
he  knew  ho^v  to  play  upon  the  spinet.  If  all  this  be  not 
true,  we  must  recognize  in  it  one  of  those  extraordinary 
fables  in  which  the  poetic  imagination  of  the  Middle 
Ages  loved  to  conceal  extraordinary  truths. 

It  was  in  the  following  manner  that  the  poor  father 
discovered  his  defect : — He  had,  by  a  former  marriage, 
a  son,  who  was  valet-de-chambre  to  the  reigning  Duke 
of  Saxe-Weisenfelds.  He  wished  to  go  and  visit  him ; 
and  George,  who  was  then  seven  years  old,  and  who  was 
not  acquainted  with  this  brother,  begged  of  his  father 
to  take  him  with  him.  When  this  was  refused,  he  did 
not  insist,  but  watched  for  the  moment  when  the  coach 
set  ofl",  and  followed  it  on  foot.     The  father  saw  him, 

*  The  strings  were  banded  with  strips  of  cloth,  to  deaden  the  sound. 
They  were  much  used  in  the  cells  of  nunneries. 


IIEPUPILOFSACKAU.  29 

stopped  the  coach,  and  scolded  him  ;  when  the  child,  as 
if  he  did  not  hear  the  scolding,  recommenced  his  suppli- 
cations to  be  allowed  to  take  part  in  the  journey,  and  at 
last  (thanks  to  that  persistence  which  predicted  the  man 
of  energy  which  he  eventually  proved  to  be)  his  request 
was  granted.  When  they  had  arrived  at  the  palace  of 
the  duke,  the  boy  stole  off  to  the  organ  in  the  chapel  as 
soon  as  the  service  was  concluded,  and  was  unable  to  re- 
sist the  temptation  of  touching  it.  The  duke,  not  rec- 
ognizing the  style  of  his  organist,  made  inquiries ;  and 
when  the  trembling  little  artist  was  brought  before  him, 
he  encouraged  him,  and  soon  won  his  secret  from  him. 
The  duke  then  addressed  himself  to  the  father,  and 
represented  to  him  that  it  was  a  sort  of  crime  against 
humanity  to  stifle  so  much  genius  in  its  birth.  The  old 
doctor  was  greatly  astonished,  and  had  not  much  to  an- 
swer ;  the  opinion  of  a  sovereign  prince  must  have  had, 
moreover,  a  great  influence  over  the  raind  of  a  man  who 
judged  of  musicians  as  we  l\ave  already  seen.  He  per- 
mitted himself  to  be  convinced,  and  promised,  not  with- 
out some  regret,  to  respect  a  vocation  wliich  manifested 
itself  by  such  unmistakable  signs.  Handel  was  present, 
his  eyes  fastened  upon  his  powerful  protector  without 
losing  a  word  of  the  argument ;  never  did  he  forget  it, 
and  forever  afterward  he  regarded  the  Duke  of  Suxe- 
Weisenfelds  as  his  benefactor,  for  having  given  such 
good  advice  to  his  father.  On  his  return  home,  his 
wishes  w^ere  gratified,  and  he  was  permitted  to  take  les- 
sons from  Sackau,  or  Zackau,  the  organist  of  the  Cathe- 
dral at  Halle.  Sackau  was  an  organist  of  the  old  school, 
learned,  fond  of  his  art,  adoring  the  fugue,  the  canon, 
and  the  counterpoint.  He  was  not  long  in  discovering 
what  a  pupil  Fortune  had  sent  to  him.  He  began  by 
carefully  instructing  him  in  general  princii>les,  and  then 
laid  before  him  a  vast  collection  of  German  and  Italian 
music  which  he  possessed,  sacred  and  profane,  vocal  and 
instrumental  compositions  of  diflerent  schools,  difl'erent 


30  LIFE    OF    HANDEL. 

styles,  and  of  every  master.  They  analyzed  every  thing 
together.  When  the  pupil  was  from  eight  to  nine  years 
old,  the  master  would  set  him  to  write  a  sacred  motet  or 
cantata  weekly ;  and  these  exercises,  which  consisted 
generally  in  fugues  on  a  given  subject,  lasted  for  three 
consecutive  years.  There  remain  of  that  epoch  "six 
trio-sonatas  for  two  hautboys  and  a  bassoon,"  of  which, 
according  to  Burney,  thei'e  are  copies  in  the  library  at 
Buckingham  Palace ;  but  all  my  endeavors  to  discover 
them  there  have  been  utterly  fruitless. 

While  these  studies  were  proceeding,  the  little  Han- 
del continued  to  practice  upon  the  harpsichord,  and 
learned  to  play  the  violin,  the  organ,  and,  above  all,  the 
hautboy,  then  the  object  of  his  predilection.*  This  taste 
of  his  childhood  explains,  perhaps,  the  great  number  of 
pieces  which  he  composed  for  that  instrument.  At  that 
time,  he  discovered  more  than  he  learned.  Sackau  was 
every  day  more  and  more  astonished  at  his  marvelous 
progress,  and,  as  he  loved  wine  nearly  as  well  as  music, 
he  often  sent  him  to  take  his  place  at  the  organ  on  Sun- 
days whenever  he  had  a  good  dejeiiner  to  take  part  in. 
At  length,  although  he  found  him  of  great  use,  this 
worthy  man  confessed,  with  excellent  and  admirable 
pride,  that  his  pupil  knew  more  than  himself,  and  ad- 
vised that  he  should  be  sent  to  Berlin,  where  he  might 
strengthen  himself  by  studying  other  models.  The 
Elector  of  Brandenburg  had  at  that  time  a  well  ap- 
pointed opera-house,  and  attracted  to  his  court  all  that 
Italy  produced  that  was  remarkaljle  in  music. 

For  his  part,  the  old  doctor  instructed  his  son  very 
regularly  in  Latin,  secretly  hoping  to  bring  him,  one  day 
or  other,  over  to  his  own  ideas.  But,  being  at  length 
over-persuaded,  he  offered  no  obstacle  to  the  proposed 
journey,  which  took  place  in  1696,  under  the  protection 
of  a  friend  of  the  family. f 

*  Burney. 

+  Mainwaring,  Burney,  and  other  uutliors,  put  the  date  of  this  jouruoy 


AT    BERLIN.  31 

Handel,  being  then  eleven  years  of  age,  made  the  ac- 
quaintance at  Berlin,  of  Attilio  and  Bononcini,  two  Ital- 
ian composers,  wlioni  suhsequently  he  was  to  meet  again 
in  London.  Attilio,  a  simple  and  benevolent  man, 
abandoned  himself  iieartily  to  the  enthusiasm  which  the 
talents  of  the  new-comer  inspired;  he  praised  him  every- 
where, and  made  him  play  the  harpsichord  and  the  or- 
gan, without  either  of  them  appearing  ever  to  grow 
tired.  Bononcini,  on  the  other  hand,  who  had  a  harsh, 
somber,  and  jealous  disposition,  and  who  enjoyed  a 
great  and  merited  reputation,  treated  the  little  fellow 
with  scorn.  Tired  of  hearing  his  skillful  execution 
praised,  this  man   composed  a  cantata  for  the  harpsi- 

at  1698,  but  this  is  evidently  wrong.  They  all  admit  that  Handel  lost 
his  father  after  his  return  from  Berlin,  and  it  seems  to  be  certain  that  it 
was  his  father  who  recalled  him  from  that  city.  But  M.  Forstemnun  has 
proved,  by  the  register  of  the  parish  of  Ilalle,  that  the  old  doctor  died 
on  the  11th  of  February,  1697,  at  the  age  of  seventy-five  years.  And, 
besides  this,  Maiuwaring  is  not  consistent  with  himself;  for  he  says 
Handel  was  sent  to  Sackau  when  he  was  seven  years  old,  and  tlien  he 
continues,  "  during  this  interval  of  three  or  four  years  he  had  made  all 
the  improvements  that  were  any  way  consistent  with  the  opportunities 
it  afforded ;  but  he  was  impatient  for  another  situation,  which  should 
afford  him  better.  Berlin  was  the  place  agreed  on,"  [Mainwaring,  p. 
18.]  After  these  words,  Mainwaring  adds,  "it  was  in  1698  that  he 
went  to  Berlin;"  but  1698  would  give  thirteen  years  instead  of  eleven 
to  the  young  organist.  It  was  at  Berlin  (Mainwaring  says  again)  that 
AttiUo  "would  often  take  him  upon  his  knee,  and  make  him  play  on  his 
hai'psichord  for  an  hour  together."  But  a  boy  of  tiiirteen  or  fourteen 
years  is  not  usually  taken  upon  the  knee,  and  kept  there  for  hours.  In 
placing  the  journey  to  Berlin  in  1696,  not  only  is  the  positive  date,  as 
discovered  by  M.  Forstemann,  adopted,  but  a  probability  is  given  to  the 
details  furnished  by  Mainwariag,i  which  tiiey  v/ould  otherwise  not  pos- 
sess. 


1.  The  Rev.  John  Mainwaring,  the,  anonymous  author  of  the  Memoirs  of  the 
Life  of  Handel,  was  a  member  of  St.  John's  College,  Cambndgo,  and  professor 
at  that  University.  Born  in  1705  (according  to  a  note  by  Mr.  Townsend),  he  was 
only  twenty-five  years  old  when  he  wrote  his  r.iography  in  17G0.  It  is  extremely 
useful  for  reference;  but  must,  nevertheless,  be  read  with  caution.  Maiuwaring 
gathered  together  many  things  that  were  generally  unknown.  He  receiv:  d  notes 
from  Smith,  Handers  secretary,  but  he  did  not  examine  what  he  wrota  wLMi  suf- 
ficient c.ir,^.  He  was  not  gifted  with  an  analytical  mind,  and,  therefore,  he  is  fre- 
quently inexact 


32  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

chord,  which  lie  filled  with  a  multitude  of  difficulties, 
and  requested  llaudel  to  play  it ;  feeling  sure  that  even 
a  professor  of  music  could  never  decipher  it  without 
study.  But  the  pupil  of  Sackau  executed  this  formida- 
ble cantata  at  sight,  as  if  it  had  been  a  mere  bagatelle. 
Bononcini  w\as  amazed,  and  treated  him  thenceforw^ard 
as  a  rival.  But  Bononcini  was  a  character ;  and  while 
he  conceived  hatred  for  a  child,  he  was  logical,  and 
showed  him  the  politeness  due  to  a  man. 

At  Berlin,  Handel  passed  for  a  prodigy.  The  elector, 
wishing  to  become  the  patron  of  so  rare  a  genius,  mani- 
fested a  disposition  to  attach  him  to  himself,  and  to  send 
liim  to  Italy  to  complete  his  musical  education.  But 
when  the  father  was  consulted,  he  did  not  think  it  wise 
to  enchain  the  future  of  his  son  to  the  court  of  Berlin, 
and  he  excused  himself,  saying  that  he  w^as  now  an  old 
man,  and  that  he  wished  to  keep  near  him  the  only  son 
who  remained  to  him ;  and  as  in  those  days  it  was  not 
prudent  to  oppose  a  prince  on  his  own  land,  Handel  was 
brought  back  somewhat  hastily  to  his  native  town. 

The  homage  of  which  he  had  perceived  himself  to  be 
the  object,  had  by  this  time,  doubtless,  given  him  some 
notion  of  his  superiority ;  but  this  only  rendered  him 
more  assiduous  in  his  studies.  What  he  had  learned  at 
Berlin  had  enlarged  his  ideas,  and  he  set  himself  to  work 
again  with  Sackau,  seeking  out  the  secrets  of  his  art, 
analyzing  the  defects  and  the  qualities  of  the  diifereut 
masters  of  every  nation,  copying  and  composing  large 
quantities  of  music,  working  constantly  to  acquire  the 
most  solid  knowledge  of  the  science.  Study  is  the  fer- 
tilizing agent,  without  which  the  richest  and  most  fruit- 
ful of  soils  must  soon  become  sterile.* 

*  We  read  iu  the  Anecdotes  of  Handel  and  Smith  : — "  It  has  long  been 
a  matter  of  curious  research,  among  the  admirers  of  Ilandel,  to  discover 
any  traces  of  his  early  studies.  Among  Mr.  Smith's  collection  of  music, 
now  in  the  possession  of  his  daughter-in-law,  Lady  Elvers, i  is  a  book 


1.  She  was  the  daughter  of  Mrs.  Coxe,  the  -widow  of  Dr.  Coxe,  physician  ex- 


DEATH     OP     HIS     FATHER.  33 

About  tills  time  Handel  contracted  relations  with 
another  studious  young  composer,  which  was  much  to 
tlieir  mutual  benefit.  Telemann,  boin  at  Magdeburg,  in 
1681,  says,  m  his  notes  upon  his  own  life,  which  were  in- 
trusted to  Mattheson  :  "  Soon  after  my  arrival  at  Leipsic, 
the  direction  of  the  opera  was  confided  to  me.  At  this 
epoch,  the  pen  of  the  excellent  Mr.  Jean  Kubnau  served 
me  as  a  model  in  the  fugue  and  the  counterpoint;  but  as 
for  the  exercises  of  melody,  I  w^as  in  constant  communi- 
cation with  Handel,  both  by  letter  and  verbally  in  the 
visits  which  we  paid  each  other."*  Leipsic  is  distant  from 
Halle  not  more  than  six  or  seven  leagues.  This  took 
place  (according  to  Telemann)  from  1*701  to  1703.  Han- 
del praised  warmly  the  facility  which  this  companion  of 
his  studies  possessed,  and  said  that  he  could  compose  a 
piece  of  church  music,  in  eight  parts,  in  less  time  than 
another  person  would  take  to  write  a  letter.f 

Handel's  father  died  shortly  after  the  return  of  his  son 
from  Berlin,  in  1697,  leaving  him  poor,  and  it  became 
necessary  to  provide  for  his  existence  as  well  as  his  re- 

of  manuscript  music,  dated  1698,  and  inscribed  with  the  initials  G.  F.  H. 
It  was  evidently  a  common-place  book  belonging  to  Handel,  in  the  fonr- 
teenth.  year  of  his  age.  The  greater  part  is  in  his  own  hand,  and  the 
notes  are  characterized  by  a  peculiar  manner  of  forming  the  crotchets. 
It  contains  various  airs,  choruses,  cai)ricios,  fugues,  and  other  pieces  of 
music,  with  the  names  of  cotemporary  musicians,  such  as  Zackau,  Al- 
berti,  Frobergher,  Krieger,  Kerl,  Ebner,  Strunch.  They  were  probably 
exercises  adopted  at  pleasure,  or  dictated  for  him  to  work  upon  by  his 
master.  The  composition  is  uncommonly  scientific,  and  contains  the 
seeds  of  many  of  his  subsequent  performances."  The  precious  "  book 
of  manuscript  music,"  mentioned  in  this  extract,  is  no  longer  to  be 
found  in  Smith's  collection.  [See  Appendix  A.]  What  has  become  of 
it? 

*  Grundlage  einer  Ehren-Pforte,  etc.  ;  von  Mattheson,  Hamb  Mirg, 
1740.  (Foundations  for  a  Musical  Triumphal  Arch.)  This  very  curious 
book  is  a  biography  of  the  musicians  of  the  epoch.  The  articles  on 
Handel,  Kaiser,  and  Telemann,  have  been  translated  for  me  by  my 
friend  and  companion  in  exile,  Ur.  Dick. 

t  Musical  B'oography. 

traordiuary  to  the  king.  Smith,  himself  a  widower,  but  childless,  married  the 
\vidow  Coxe  ia  1705. — Anecdotes,  etc.,  p.  56. 


34  LIFEOF     HANDEL. 

nown.  Halle  was  too  small  to  contain  him.  He  wished 
to  visit  Italy,  but  not  having  the  means  of  making  such 
a  journey,  he  went  to  Hamburg  in  the  month  of  July, 
1V03.*  This  town  was,  at  that  time,  in  the  apogee  of  its 
commercial  prosperity ;  possessing  a  German  opera-house 
which  rivaled  that  of  Berlin,  and  had  for  its  composer- 
in-chief  the  Saxon  Kaiser,  a  man  of  very  great  reputation. 

Handel  commenced  by  entering  this  theater  as  violoii 
di  ripie7io.\  He  was,  perhaps,  willing  to  content  him- 
self with  so  small  a  position,  less  through  modesty  than 
through  vanity.  The  young  man  of  eighteen  years  re- 
served to  himself  the  satisfaction  of  enjoying  the  general 
surprise  when  his  capacities  should  be  discovered.  This 
is  rendered  probable  by  what  Mattheson  says  :  "  x\t  first 
he  played  the  violon  di  ripieno  in  the  orchestra  of  the 
opera-house,  and  he  acted  the  part  of  a  man  who  did  not 
know  how  to  count  five,  for  he  was  naturally  prone  to  dry 
humor.  But  the  harpsichordist  being  absent,  he  allowed 
himself  to  be  persuaded  to  replace  him,  and  proved  him- 
self to  be  a  great  master,  to  the  astonishment  of  every 
body,  except  myself,  who  had  often  heard  him  in  pri- 
vate." 

Soon  after  his  arrival  at  Hamburg,  the  place  of  the  or- 
ganist of  Lubec  was  ofiered  for  competition,  upon  the 
retirement  of  the  old  incumbent,  Dietrich  Buxtchude, 
and  Handel,  accompanied  by  Mattheson,  went  to  canvass 
for  the  vacancy,  on  the  lYth  of  August,  lYOS.  But  they 
found  a  rather  singular  condition  attached  to  the  pro- 
gramme, which  was,  that  the  successor  was  to  marry  the 
daughter  of  the  retiring  organist ;  and  as  this  was  not 
quite  agreeable  to  them,  they  returned  to  Hamburg  as 
happy  as  they  went.  This  adventure,  at  the  very  outset 
of  his  career,  a2:)pears  all  the  more  original,  when  we  re- 

*  Mattheson. 

t  The  insti-uments  of  ripieno  are  used  in  orchestral  compositions  to 
distinguish  those  j»arfe  wliieh  are  only  occasionally  iutroduced  to  fill  up 
and  supply  the  chorus.— Busby's  Dictionary  qf  Music. 


MATTUESON.  35 

member  that   Handel   never   manifested  any  taste  for 
matrimony. 

Mattheson  was  a  young  citizen  of  Hamburg,  a  com- 
poser, a  singer,  and  an  actor,  very  clever  on  the  organ 
and  the  harpsicliord,  and  afterward  a  writer  of  astonish- 
ing fecundity.  Born  in  1G81,  he  prided  himself,  when 
eighty-three  years  old,  on  having  written  as  many  books 
ujion  all  sorts  of  subjects  as  he  had  lived  years.  Many 
of  his  works  (from  which  Hawkins  and  Burney  have 
largely  drawn)  swarm  with  documents  on  the  history  of 
music  during  that  epoch.  He  had  been  one  of  the  shoot- 
ing-stars of  the  musical  firmament.  At  nine  years  of 
age  he  sang  and  accompanied  himself  upon  the  oi-gan  in 
cantatas  of  his  own  composition ;  at  eighteen  he  v^^rote  an 
opera,  Les  Pleiades^  in  which  he  played  tlie  principal 
part ;  at  twenty-five  he  understood  that  Nature  had  de- 
ceived him,  and  as,  in  the  midst  of  all  his  studies,  he  had 
learned  the  English  language,  he  became  secretary  of  the 
envoy  of  Great  Britain,  resident  at  Hamburg.  He  had 
known  Handel  from  his  arrival  there.  "  I  introduced 
him,"  says  he,  "to  the  opera,  and  to  many  houses  where 
he  played  music ;  which  procured  for  him  many  pupils. 
He  dined  often  with  my  father,  whose  table  was  open  to 
him ;  he  taught  me  then  a  little  counterpoint,  while  I, 
on  my  side,  Avas  very  useful  to  him  in  dramatic  style." 
Thus  they  were  bound  together  by  a  friendship  wiiich, 
at  its  commencement,  was  nearly  coming  to  a  terrible 
conclusion.  Handel  remained  in  the  orchestra  presiding 
over  the  harpsichord.  On  the  5th  of  December,  1704, 
was  performed  tlie  opera  of  Cleopatra  (Mattheson's  third 
opera),  in  which  the  composer  himself  sang  the  part 
of  Anthony.  He  was  accustomed,  after  the  death  of 
Anthony,  to  conduct  the  remainder  of  the  performance 
himself,  to  which  Kaiser  had  never  made  any  objection. 
But  the  pupil  of  Sackau  was  less  accommodating,  and 
refused,  with  very  little  reason,  to  give  up  the  harpsi* 
chord  when  the  resuscitated  Anthony  presented  himself. 


36  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

The  other  was  naturally  very  much  irritated  at  being  de- 
jnived  of  his  privilege  as  a  maestro^  and  at  the  end  of 
the  representation  he  left  the  tlieater  with  Handel,  over- 
Avhelming  him  with  reproaches.  His  complaints  were 
not  apparently  received  very  graciously,  for  they  had 
scarcely  got  out  of  the  theater  when  the  enraged  Mat- 
theson  administered  to  the  oiFender  a  box  on  the  ear ; 
swords  were  immediately  drawn,  and  they  fought  there 
and  then  in  front  of  the  theater.  Mattheson's  weapon 
was  shivered  on  a  large  metal  button  on  the  coat  of  his 
adversary,  and  this  happy  circumstance  terminated  the 
combat ;  whereu})on  Mattheson  quotes  from  we  know 
not  what  great  philosopher:  "If  you  break  your  sword 
uj^on  your  friend,  you  do  not  injure  him  so  much  as  if 
you  speak  ill  of  him."  And  after  this  piece  of  naivete, 
he  adds :  "  Thanks  to  a  distinguished  municipal  coun- 
selor and  to  a  director  of  the  theater,  we  were  recon- 
ciled. On  the  30th  of  December  following,  I  had  the 
pleasure  of  having  Handel  to  dine  with  me,  and  the 
same  evening  Ave  assisted  at  the  representation  of  his 
Almira,  and  we  became  better  friends  than  ever.  I 
recount  this  episode  precisely  as  it  happened,  because 
a  short  time  ago  some  malicious  persons  interpreted 
it  in  a  diflerent  manner."  The  narrator  wrote  this 
in  1740,  when  Handel  was  alive,  and  it  was  not  contra- 
dicted.* 

Ahnira^  Queen  of  Gastille  y  or,  tJie  Vicissitude  of 
Royalty — the  first  dramatic  work  of  the  composer  of 
Halle — appealed  on  the  8th  of  January,  1705,  and  not  in 

*  Mainwaring's  work,  which  transforms  the  duel  into  an  attempt  at 
assassination,  fell  into  Mattheson's  liands,  and  he  made  a  translation  of 
it  in  1761,  in  which  he  repels  such  an  insinuation  with  indignation  ;  ex- 
plaining that,  far  from  taking  his  adversary  unawares,  "he  gave  him  a 
blow,  as  a  friendly  warning  to  put  himself  on  guard."  He  afterward 
exposes  sharply  all  the  blunders  of  tbe  English  writer,  and  ridicules 
above  all  his  persistence  in  attributing  to  Handel  only  fourteen  years 
when  he  arrived  in  Hamburg.  [Barney. J  In  the  "Anecdotes  of 
Handel,"  tlie  itttrmpt  at  assasd/iatiov.  is  also  referred  to  as  an  error. 
[[bid.,p.Vt.] 


WORKS    WRITTEN    IX     GERMANY.  37 

1704,  as  the  Musical  Patriot  erroneously  states.*  It 
was  immediately  followed,  on  the  25th  of  February,  by 
Kero  ;  or,  Love  obtained  by  Blood  and  Murder  ;  then 
by  Daphne  and  by  Florinda  (in  my  opinion)  in  170G. 
Mattheson  played  the  principal  parts  in  these.  Abaira, 
above  all,  he  says,  was  very  successful. f 

In  spite  of  the  position  which  he  had  acquired,  Handel 
had  not  abandoned  his  design  of  visiting  Italy,  when  a 
very  tempting  opportunity  of  doing  so  without  expense 
presented  itself.  The  brother  of  the  Grand  Duke  of 
Tuscany,  Prince  Gaston  de  Medici,  whom  he  met  at 
Hamburg,  proposed  that  he  should  accompany  him  to 
Florence ;  but  he  declined  to  accept  the  invitation.^ 
He  had  a  spirit  of  independence  which  never  deserted 
him,  and  Avhich  manifested  itself,  as  we  see,  at  an  early 
age.  Although  scarcely  twenty-one  years  old,  he  liked 
better  to  wait  than  to  be  one  of  a  prince's  retinue ;  and 

*  Mattheson. 

t  Thanks  to  the  politeness  of  Dr.  Gervinus,  the  Professor  of  Ilistoiy 
at  Heidelberg,  and  of  Dr.  Chrysander,  of  Berlin  [see  Appendix  B.],  I 
learn  that  a  copy  of  this  opera,  in  the  handwi'iting  of  Mattheson,  and 
corrected  by  Handel,  is  in  the  Berlin  Library.  This  is  a  most  interest- 
ing discovery.  The  other  three  are  unfortunately  lost,  and  nothing  is 
known  about  them.  We  have  also  to  regret  the  cantatas,  the  sonatas, 
and  a  great  quantity  of  vocal  and  instrn  mental  music,  which  the  author 
of  Almira  composed  at  Hamburg.  Mainwaring  says,  "  two  chests  full 
were  left  at  Hamburg."  If,  perchance,  this  book  should  fall  into  the 
hands  of  some  amateur  at  Hamburg,  I  should  recommend  him  to  search 
the  vast  municipal  library  and  the  ancient  archives  of  that  city,  and  per- 
haps he  may  discover  the  whole  or  a  part  of  these  works.  From  Dr. 
Gervinus  and  Dr.  Chrysander,  I  also  learn  that  a  German  cantata  of 
Handel  on  the  "  Passion"  has  been  discovered  in  Germany.  It  was  at 
first. doubted  that  the  cantata,  differing  from  his  oratorio  of  1717,  on 
the  "Passion,"  was  truly  his;  but  the  researches  of  Dr.  Chrysander 
have  ended  by  convincing  him  that  Handel  was  really  tlie  author  of  it, 
and  that  he  wrote  it  at  Hamburg  for  the  Easter  of  1704.  My  direct 
communications  with  Dr.  Gervinus  and  Dr.  Chrysander  enable  me  to 
state  that  no  other  German  music  by  Handel  is  known  in  Germany, 
than  the  Fasslon  of  1717,  the  cantata  on  the  Passion  of  1704,  and  Al- 
mira of  1705.  In  addition  to  tliese,  there  are  among  the  MSS.  in  Buck- 
ingham Palace  nine  German  cantatas,  sav:-ed  and  profane. 

X  Mattheson  and  Main  wan  ng,  p.  40. 


38  LIFE     OF    HANDEL. 

when,  apart  from  what  he  had  sent  to  his  mother,  he  had 
put  aside  two  hundred  ducats  oat  of  his  pay  at  the 
theater,  and  what  he  gained  by  giving  lessons,  he  was 
able  to  set  out  alone,  but  free.  He  lirst  of  all  turned  his 
steps  toward  Florence,  in  which  city  we  may  conclude 
that  he  arrived  about  the  month  of  July,  1 706,  having 
resided  three  years  at  Hamburg. 

And  here  let  me  explain  that  vague  expression,  "  we 
may  conclude."  It  has  been  already  stated  in  the  preface 
that  there  are  very  few  authentic  documents  to  prove, 
with  any  certainty,  the  dates  at  which  the  earlier  events 
of  Handel's  life  occurred,  and  it  is  therefore  necessary  to 
have  recourse  to  hypothesis.  To  justify  my  own  dates, 
and  to  prove  that  my  guides  are  mistaken,  requires  a  dis- 
cussion which  the  greater  number  of  readers  may  not 
care  to  follow.  I  have,  therefore,  devoted  a  somewhat 
lengthy  note  to  this  purpose,  which  may  prove  interest- 
ing to  inquiring  minds.* 

Handel  remained  in  Florence  until  the  end  of  1706. 
There  he  produced  Hoderigo^  for  which  the  grand  duke 
presented  him  Avith  a  service  of  plate  and  a  purse  con- 
taining a  hundred  sequins.  The  orchestration  of  this 
opera  offers  a  singular  peculiarity.  In  a  martial  song, 
wherein  the  use  of  the  trumpet  is  absolutely  necessary 
{Gid  grida  la  tromha — "The  trumpet  now  is  sound- 
ing"), it  is  a  hautboy  that  plays  the  pi-incipal  part  of  the 
accompaniment.  The  trumpet,  which  is  one  of  the  most 
ancient  of  instruments,  was  certainly  not  unknown  to 
Handel  (there  is  one  used  in  Silla.,  whicli  he  wrote  shortly 
afterward  at  Rome)  ;  and  all  that  we  can  suppose  is, 
that  at  that  time  a  trumpeter  was  not  to  be  found  in 
Tuscany ! 

After  being  entertained  by  Prince  Gaston,  Handel 
went  on  to  Venice  in  January,  arriving  about  the  begin- 
ning of  the  carnival  of  1707.  There  he  made  the  ac- 
quaintance of  Steffani,  Domenico  Scarlatti,  Gasparini, 
*  See  Appendix  C. 


LIFE    IN     HOME.  39 

and  Lotti.  The  Venetians  wished  to  have  a  work  from 
their  renowned  guest,  and  "  in  three  weeks"  he  wrote 
Agrippina^  which  was  received  with  entliusiasm,  the 
theater  resounding  with  acclamations  and  cries  of  "  Viva 
il  caro  Sassonef" — "Long  live  the  dear  Saxon  !"* 

Being  doubtless  desirous  of  assisting  at  the  celebrated 
Easter  festivities  of  the  Eternal  Cit}^,  the  caro  ^assoJie 
(as  the  Venetians  called  him)  quitted  them  after  a  stay 
of  three  months,  and  arrived  in  Rome  on  the  4th  of 
April,  1707.  Among  the  MSS.  at  Buckingham  Palace, 
there  is  a  Dixit  Dominus^  which  bears  this  date,  and  a 
Laudate  Pueri^  dated  on  the  8th  of  July  in  the  same 
year.  The  oratorio  of  the  Resurreczione  is  also  dated 
"Roma,  4  d'Aprile,  1708."  It  is  clear,  therefore,  that 
Handel  remained  at  Rome  for  at  least  one  year.f 

*  Mainwaring.  According  to  the  same  authority,  it  was  in  Agrippina  that 
Handel  first  introduced  the  French-horn,  which  had  been  lately  invented 
in  France,  but  was  almost  unknown  to  the  Italians.  This  appears  to  have 
been  the  general  opinion  in  1760,  for  we  find  the  following  note  at  the 
end  of  Mainwaring's  book,  as  coming  from  "  a  gentleman  who  is  a  perfect 
master  of  the  subject:" — "It  is,  I  believe,  an  undoubted  fact,  that 
French-horns  were  never  used  there  [in  Italy]  as  an  accompaniment  to 
the  voice  till  Handel  introduced  them."  But  this  "  undoubted  fact"  is 
disproved  by  the  best  of  all  authorities — the  score  of  Aginppina  itself, 
in  which  nothing  at  all  resembling  the  French-horn  is  to  be  found. 
Water  Music,  of  1715,  is  the  first  work  by  Handel  in  wbich  this  instrument 
is  to  be  met  with,  and  he  did  not  use  it  again  before  1720,  in  Badamisto. 
And  this  long  interval  is  not  surprising,  when  we  remember  that,  with 
the  exception  of  the  English  serenata,  Acis  and  Galatea,  he  wrote  noth- 
ing but  sacred  compositions  between  Water  Music  and  Badamisto.  It  is 
true  that  there  are  French-horns  in  what  Walsh  has  published  of  Fast^/r 
Fido,  but  they  only  occur  in  the  additions  made  in  1734  to  the  old  score  of 
1712. 

t  It  is  probable  that  during  that  time  he  wrote  Silla,  an  opera  entirely 
unknown,  of  which  no  author  makes  ony  mention,  and  of  which  I  have 
found  many  original  fragments  in  the  MSS.  in  Buckingham  Palace,  be- 
sides a  complete  copy.  According  to  all  appearance,  Silla  was  never 
produced  ;  and  Mr.  Lacy  has  discovered  that  Handel  used  at  least  a  third 
part  of  this  opera  for  his  Amadigi,  in  1715.  In  the  "  Catalogue,"  under 
the  date  1707,  will  be  found  a  table  of  comparison  for  the  two  works. 
The  air  for  the  ghost  of  Dardanus,  in  Amadigi — "  Han  penetrato  i  detti 
tuo,"  of  which  Burney  says,  "  here  we  have  Handel's  idea  of  the  man- 
ner in  which  a  ghost  would  sing" — is  identical  with   the  air  of  Claudio 


40  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

From  the  memorandum  of  the  Resurreczione^  it  ap- 
peal's that  it  was  written  in  the  house  of  the  Marquis  de 
Riispoli.  Young  as  he  was,  Handel  also  associated  famil- 
iarly with  Cardinal  Pamphili:  art  and  talent  made  them 
equals.  This  cardinal  had  such  an  admiration  for  the 
young  composer,  that  it  is  said  he  wrote  some  verses  in 
which  he  called  him  Orpheus.  It  is  also  said  that  Han- 
del set  these  verses  to  music.  As  there  was  something 
about  Orpheus  in  them  we  may  believe  in  the  panegyric ; 
but  surely  his  pride  must  have  been  tempered  with  too 
much  good  sense  to  sing  it  himself.  What  is  more  cer- 
tain is,  that  Pamphili  wrote  a  Httle  poem  on  the  power 
of  Time,  II  Ti'lonfo  del  Tempo^  of  which  the  Saxon 
Orpheus  made  an  oratorio  ;  which  was  performed  at  the 
house  of  another  Cardinal,  Ottoboni,  who  had  an  orches- 
tra at  his  own  expense,  conducted  by  Corelli,  and  wlio 
gave  a  great  concert  every  week. 

Handel  was  at  every  period  of  his  life  perfectly  reason- 
able ;  but,  according  to  his  view,  reason  did  not,  as  Avith 

in  Silla — "  Se'l  mio  mal  da  voi  depende."  Silli  and  Roderigo  have  no 
other  choruses  hut  the  final  ones,  hke  ahnost  all  the  early  operas  hy  the 
same  author.    It  was  not  the  custom  of  his  time  to  give  more. 

Here  it  maybe  mentioned  that  besides  the  violins  and  the  violas,  "  due 
fiauti,  due  traversiere,  due  bassons,  due  trombe  e  cembalo, "i  the  MS.  of 
the  Besurreczione  puts  on  the  bass-line  a  "viola  da  gamba,"  a  *'  teorba," 
an  "  arci-liuto,''2  "  violoncelli,"  and  "  violoni.'"  The  "  violone"  is  the 
first  name  which  was  given  by  the  Italians  to  the  "  contra-basso,"  or 
double-bass.  As  "  violoncelli"  and  "violoni"  are  plural,  there  must 
have  been  at  least  two  violoncellos  and  two  double-basses  :  and  this  sup- 
poses a  very  large  orchestra,  for  the  number  of  violins  must  have  been 
in  propoi'tion  to  tlie  bass-line.  Here,  also,  we  have  an  indiibitable  proof 
that  the  violoncello  was  used  in  Italy  in  1708,  and  is  of  older  date  than 
the  musical  dictionaries  assert. 


1  Two  flutes,  two  German  flutes,  two  bassoons,  two  trumpets,  and  a  harspichord. 

2  The  viola  da  gamba  (leg-viol)  was  a  large  viol,  which  was  held  upon  the  knee. 
It  has  been  replaced  by  the  violoncello.  The  teorba  or  tcorho  (Ilandel  makes  use 
of  both  words)  was  a  sort  of  large  guitar,  rounded  at  the  back  ;  it  is  also  used  in 
the  accompaniment  to  Athalm,  produced  in  1734.  The  liiito  (lute)  and  arci-Uuto 
(double  lute)  were  also  stringed  instru.  lents,  belonging  to  the  same  family  as  the 
guitar.  We  find  a  Unto  in  the  orchestration  of  Dryden's  Ode  and  of  Hymen,  pro- 
duced by  Handel  in  1739  and  1740.  This  was,  perhaps,  the  last  occasion  of  its 
appearance  in  the  theater. 


THE  CARDINAL  OTTOBONI.         41 

little  minds,  consist  in  immobility.  From  the  beginning, 
he  was  a  daring  composer,  enterprising,  fond  of  new 
ways,  an  avoider  of  beaten  tracks.  The  score  of  It  Tri- 
onfo  del  Tempo^  which  was  written  at  a  period  when 
even  scenic  duets  were  still  very  rare,  contained  two  long 
quartetts. 

The  Resurreczione  is  printed  in  Arnold's  edition  of 
the  Works  of  Handel  :*  II  Trionfo  del  Tempo  is  still 
unedited. 

At  Rome,  Handel  again  met  with  Domenico  Scarlatti, 
who  was  thought  to  be  the  best  player  on  the  harpsichord 
and  the  organ  in  all  Italy,  and  Cardinal  Ottoboni  per- 
suaded them  to  compete  with  each  other.  Upon  the 
harpsichord  the  victory  was  doubtful,  but  npon  the  organ, 
Scarlatti  himself  confessed  the  superiority  of  his  clever 
antagonist.  This  rivalship  (be  it  said  to  the  honor  of 
both)  did  not  prevent  them  from  entertaining  the  great- 
est esteem  for  each  other.  Handel  always  spoke  of 
Scarlatti  in  the  highest  terms,  and  Mainwaring  states 
(upon  the  authority  of  the  brothers  Plas,  two  celebrated 
players  on  the  hautboy,  who  came  from  Madrid,  where 
they  met  with  Scarlatti)  that  "  so  oft  as  he  (Scarlatti) 
was  admired  for  his  great  execution,  he  would  mention 
Handel  and  cross  himself  in  token  of  admiration."f  J 

*  Foi-  this  edition,  as  for  all  others,  see  at  the  end  of  the  "  Catalogue," 
Publication  of  the  Works  of  Handel. 

t  Mainwaring,  p.  61. 

X  The  Gentleman' H  Magazine  for  March,  1760,  gives  some  curious  infor- 
mation as  to  the  splendor  which  surrounded  the  prelate,  with  whom 
Handel  seems  to  have  been  familiar  during  his  stay  at  Eome  : — "  Cardi- 
nal Ottoboni  died  on  February  17,  aged  72.  He  advanced  to  the  purple 
at  the  age  of  22.  He  died  possessed  of  nine  abbeys  in  the  Ecclesiastical 
States,  five  in  that  of  Venice,  and  three  in  that  of  France,  which  last 
only  amounted  to  56,000  livres  per  annum.  He  was  Dean  of  the  Sacred 
College,  and  in  that  quality  Bishop  of  Velletri  and  Ostia,  Protector  of 
France,  Archpriest  of  St.  John  de  Lateran,  and  Secretary  of  the  Office 
of  the  Inquisition.  He  had  a  particular  inclination,  when  young,  to 
music,  poetiy,  and  classical  learning — composing  airs,  operas,  and  ora- 
torios.   He  made  the  greatest  figut'c  of  any  of  the  cardinals ;  or,  indeed, 


CHAPTER   II. 

1709—1720. 

Conclusion  of  '.he  Journey  to  Italy — "  Aci  e  Galattea"— Feenoh  Songs 
— Journey  to  Hanover — A-Rrival  in  London — Commencement  of  the 
Italian  Opera  in  England — "  Einaldo" — Cantatas  and  Chamber  Duets 

SAID   TO   BE   COMPOSED   IN     HaNOVER — OdE     FOR     QuEEN    AnNF/S   BiRTH-DAY — 

Pastor  Fido — Tesso — Utrecht  Te  Deum  and  Grand  Jubilate — Thomas 
Britton — First  Public  Concerts  in  England — Haxdel  settles  in  Lon- 
don— Water  Music — ''  Amadigi" — Tableaux  Vivants — Heidegger — Jour- 
ney into  Germany — Handel's  German  Oratorio,  "The  Passion'" — He 
becomes  Chapel-master  to  the  Duke  of  Chandos— Cuandos  Anthems 
— The  Character  of  Handel's  Sacred  Music. 

It  has  already  been  shown  that  Handel  w^as  at  Rome 
hi  April,  1708;  and  one  of  his  manuscripts,  belonging  to 
the  Granville  family,  and  which  has  been  shown  to  me 
by  the  kindness  of  the  lady  of  Sir  Benjamin  Hall,  en- 
ables us  to  follow  him  with  certainty  to  Naples.  It  is 
that  of  the  chamber  trio,  "  Se  tu  non  lasci  amor,"*  and 
is  clearly  signed  in  the  large  handwriting  which  Handel 
then  used,^"G.  F.  Handel,  li  12  Luglio^  1708,  Napoli." 

of  any  other  person  in  Eome,  for  he  had  the  soul  of  an  emperor,i  nor 
was  there  any  princely  notion  bat  what  he  endeavored  to  imitate,  enter- 
taining the  people  with  comedies,  operas,  puppet-shows,  oratorios,  aca- 
demics, etc.  He  was  magnificent  in  his  alms,  presents,  and  entertain- 
ments at  festivals.  In  his  ecclesiastical  functions  he  likewise  showed 
great  piety  and  generosity,  and  his  palace  was  the  refuge  of  the  poor,  as 
well  as  the  resort  of  the  virtuosi.  In  his  own  pai'isli  he  entertained  a 
physician,  surgeon,  and  apothecary,  for  the  use  of  all  that  wanted  their 
assistance." 

*  On  the  hack  of  this  MS.  the  fortunate  proprietor  has  written,  "  this 
original  of  Mr.  G.  F.  Handel's  own  handwriting,  was  given  by  him  to 
Mr.  Bernard  Granville,  and  is  the  only  copy  extant,  as  Mr.  Handel  told 
him  when  he  gave  it  to  him  as  an  addition  to  his  collection  of  music." 
The  descendants  of  Bernard  Granville  still  possess  many  manuscript 
letters  by  Handel,  written  from  Dublin  to  their  ancestor.  Lady  Hall  re- 
serves to  herself  the  publication  of  these  precious  documents. 

1.  This  can  not  be  doubted,  since  he  was  Secretary  to  the  Inquisition. 


"act,    g  a  l  a  t  t  e  a   E   P  O  L  I  f  e  m  o."  43 

A  document  so  perfectly  autlientic  affords  a  new  start- 
ing-point in  rectifying  tlie  errors  committed  respecting 
this  part  of  Handel's  .life,  and  gives  a  great  appearance 
of  exactness  to  my  conjectui-es  as  to  preceding  as  well 
as  subsequent  periods.  It  is  incontestable  that  he  was  at 
Naples  on  the  12th  of  July,  1708.  According  to  all  the 
authors,  it  was  there  that  he  wrote  his  Italian  serenata, 
*'  Aciy  Galattea  e  Pol'ifemo'''  (the  textual  title  of  the 
MS.)  In  this,  every  thing  takes  place  between  the 
three  personages ;  there  is  neither  any  division  of  acts, 
nor  chorus,  nor  even  an  overture  ;  at  least  according  to 
the  present  state  of  the  MS.  It  is,  indeed,  more  of  a 
cantata  for  three  voices  with  an  orchestra  than  a  sere- 
nata ;  at  any  rate,  it  is  not  an  opera,  as  Mr.  Sterndale 
Bennett  calls  it  in  his  preface  to  the  English  Acis^  pub- 
lished by  the  Handel  Society.  But  whatever  may  be  the 
title,  this  composition,  written  by  the  author  when  only 
twenty-three  years  old,  and  still  unedited,  is  far  from  mer- 
iting oblivion.  According  to  Mr.  Lacy's  analysis,  the 
introduction  between  Aci  (soprano)  and  Galattea  (con- 
tralto)^ "  Sorge  il  di,"  is  full  of  grace,  and  its  accom- 
paniment is  of  exquisite  delicacy.  "  Se  m'ami  o  caro," 
which  Handel  introduced  into  Pastor  Fldo^  and  which 
Burney  calls  "  extremely  plaintive  and  elegant,"  has  a 
very  original  accompaniment  of  two  violoncellos  and  a 
double-bass.  The  air  of  Aci,  "  Che  non  puo  la  gelosia," 
is  profound  in  expression ;  and  his  death-song,  "  Verso 
gia  I'alma,"  is  full  of  discordant  harmonies  and  of  the 
greatest  ability.  It  may  be  indeed  objected  that  it  is 
rather  too  long  for  a  dying  man ;  but  Handel  would 
doubtless  have  replied  like  Voltaire,  when  a  physician 
accused  him  of  prolonging  the  death  of  Merope,  "  True, 
but  you  should  recollect  that  she  was  nqt  attended  by  a 
physician."  The  air,  "  Qui  I'augel  di  pianta  in  pianta," 
is  a  charming  little  Sicilienne,  with  a  hautboy  ohUgato 
from  one  end  to  the  other,  sometimes  giving  an  echo  to 
the  voice,  and  sometimes  forming  a  duet  with  it,  and 


44  LIFEOFUANDEL. 

always  with  infinite  grace.  When  Handel  produced  his 
English  Acis  in  1732,  he  added  to  it  many  Italian  pieces,* 
and,  among  others,  this  Sicilienne,  for  which  he  wrote  a 
new  accompaniment  on  the  double-lute.  Polifemo,  who 
is  well  understood  to  be  a  basso,  since  he  is  a  monster 
(and  monsters,  traitors,  drunkards,  tyrants,  and  soldiers, 
are  always  bassos — poor  bassos  !),  has  a  love-scng,  "  Non 
sempre,  no,  crudele,"  entirely  different  from  the  cele- 
brated "  O  ruddier  than  the  cherry"  of  the  English  Acis, 
but  which  is  certainly  a  not  less  happy  piece  of  barbarity. 
Whoever  sang  the  part  of  Polifemo  had  certainly  the 
most  extraordinary  voice  for  which  music  has  ever  been 
composed,  and  Handel  ought  to  have  left  his  name  for 
the  curiosity  and  astonishment  of  the  world.  One  of  his 
airs  comprises  a  range  of  two  octaves  and  five  notes ! 

While  he  was  in  Italy,  Handel  composed  many  pieces 
of  sacred  music  for  the  Roman  Catholic  form  of  worship, 
which  are  still  unedited.f  Among  others,  there  is  a 
grand  Magnificat  with  a  double  chorus,  from  which,  thirty 
years  afterward,  he  drew  five  choruses  and  two  duets  for 
his  Israel  in  Egypt.  Thus  it  was  that  this  extraordinary 
man  found  among  the  productions  of  his  youth  some 
things  worthy  to  be  added  to  the  most  powerful  work 
of  his  genius  in  its  maturity. 

We  have  also  belonging  to  this  period  seven  French 
canzonets.  The  songs  of  France  at  that  time  pervaded 
the  whole  world,  and  were  generally  composed  of  sim- 
ple and  graceful  words,  such  as  would  tempt  him  to 
compose  music  to  them. J     He  did  not,  however,  know 

*  See  "  Catalogue."  +  See  "  Catalogue,"  1707-9. 

X  The  following  specimens  will  serve  to  justify  this  opinion  : 
"  Vous  qui  m'aviez  procure  une  amour  eteruelle, 
Vous  que  j'aimais  si  tendrement, 
Pouvez  vous  bien  etre  infidelle 

A  votre  plus  fidelle  araant. 
Je  devrois  vous  reudre  le  change, 

Je  devrois  vous  hair,  ou  je  devrois  changer, 
Mais  si  c'est  par  la  qu'on  se  venge 
Je  ne  veux  jamais  me  venger." 


IN    SEAKCn     OF    EMPLOYMENT.  45 

enough  of  French  to  set  the  silent  e  properly  to  music, 
but  he  made  many  corrections  in  pencil  at  a  subsequent 
period  ;  and  these  emendations  of  such  small  matters, 
which  were  probably  never  destined  by  himself  to  see 
the  light,  afford  a  new  proof  of  the  indefatigable  and 
conscientious  perseverance  with  which  he  perfected  the 
most  insignificant  of  his  works.  Among  them  may  be 
found  a  recitative  of  four  lines  which  is  quite  worthy  to 
be  set  apart — "  Yous  ne  scauriez  flatter  ma  peine."  It 
is  of  splendid  construction,  and,  what  gives  it  a  double 
interest,  it  is  so  much  in  the  style  of  Gluck  that  one 
might  suppose  it  to  belong  to  that  master.  But  Gluck 
did  not  exist  then  as  a  musician. 

After  having  remained  at  N'aples  for  a  length  of  time, 
which  is  not  precisely  ascertained,  the  composer  of  Halle 
paid  a  second  visit  to  Florence,  Venice,  and  Rome,  in 
search  of  employment  -^  but,  not  finding  any  that  suited 
him  (for  he  was  a  Lutheran),  he  left  Italy  with  an  inten- 
tion to  settle  in  Germany,  but  without  knowing  exactly 
upon  which  town  he  should  fix.f  First  of  all,  he  went 
to  Hanover,  with  which  he  was  as  yet  unacquainted  ; 
and  this  was  probably  about  the  autumn  of  1709.     The 

"  Nos  plaisirs  seront  peu  dui-ables, 
Le  destiii  a  compt6  nos  jours  ; 
Ne  songeons  qu'  ^  les  rcndre  aimablea, 
Puis  qu'il  les  a  rendus  si  courts,"  etc. 


"  Petite  fleur  brunette, 
Aimable  violette, 
Que  ne  puis-je  avec  vous  cbanger  raon  triste  sort ! 
Vous  languissez  dans  le  sein  de  silvie  ; 
Je  trouverois  la  vie 
Oii  vous  trouvez  la  mort." 


"  Sans  y  penser  a  Tirsis  j'ai  sceu  plaire, 
Sans  y  penser  aussi  Tirsis  m'a  sceu  ebarmer. 
Amour  prend  soin  de  cette  affaire, 
II  pourrait  bien  se  d^gager 
Sans  y  penser." 
*  Mainwaring.  +  Mainwariug,  Hawkins,  and  Burney. 


46  LIFEOF    HANDEL. 

Elector  George  of  Brunswick,  afterward  George  the 
First  of  England,  was  delighted  to  receive  such  a  man 
in  his  principality,  and  offered  to  retain  him  as  his  chapel- 
master,  at  a  salary  of  fifteen  hundred  ducats.*  Hawkinsf 
pretends,  and  some  other  biographers  have  repeated 
after  him,  that  the  Abbe  Steffani  voluntarily  resigned 
this  post  in  his  favor ;  but  it  has  been  observed,  with 
truth,  that  Steffani,  who  was  a  Catholic  priest,  could  not 
have  held  such  a  position  under  a  Protestant  prince. 
What  appears  more  probable  is,  that  that  graceful  musi- 
cian (who  was  a  bishop,  and  a  diplomatist  in  his  hours  of 
leisure)  manifested  a  great  deal  of  benevolence  toward 
the  young  Saxon.  But  Handel,  for  his  part,  was  not 
very  desirous  of  occupying  this  post.  At  the  court  of 
the  elector  he  had  already  met  some  British  noblemen, 
who  had  pressed  him  to  visit  England,  and,  being  per- 
suaded by  them  to  undertake  that  journey,  he  did  not 
wish  to  engage  himself  except  upon  the  condition  of  be- 
ing allowed  to  accomplish  it.  The  condition  was  accept- 
ed, and  he  set  out  at  the  end  of  about  ten  months  or  a 
yeai'.  In  the  mean  time,  what  had  he  produced  at  Han- 
over ?  It  is  difficult  to  suppose  that  he  did  not  write 
something  for  the  chapel  of  which  he  was  director ;  but 
it  is  certain  that  nothing  is  known  which  bears  this  date. 
In  passing  through  Dusseldorf,  he  could  scarcely  tear 
himself  away,  for  the  elector  palatine  wished  to  keep 
him  at  any  price.  Thence  he  went  to  Halle,  to  embrace 
liis  mother,  who  was  now  blind,  and  his  good  old  master 
Sackau.  Afterward  he  visited  Holland,  and  arrived  in 
London  at  the  close  of  1710. 

The  fashionable  world  of  London  was  at  that  time 
greatly  interested  in  Italian  music.  In  1705,  operas  were 
given  at  Drury  Lane  Theater  "  on  the  Italian  model," 
that  is  to  say,  with  dialogues  in  recitative.  Among 
others,  Camilla  (the  music  of  which  was  chiefly  bor- 
rowed from  Marco  Antonio  Bononcini,  the  brother  of 
*  About  £300  sterling,    t  Vide  History  of  Music  (Novello's  Ed.),  p.  673. 


ITALIAN     OPERA     IN     LONDON.  47 

the  celebrated  Giovanni  Bononcini)  was  produced  on  the 
30th  ot*  April,  1706,  and  was  published  by  Walsh,  These 
early  works,  compilations  of  Italian  music  applied  to 
English  words,  were  sung  by  English  artists.  In  Janu- 
ary, 1708,  they  were  removed  to  the  theater  in  the  Ilay- 
market,  for  the  London  Dally  Post  announced,  "  by  an 
agreement  between  Swiny  and  Rich,  the  Haymarket  is 
to  be  appropriated  to  operas,  and  Drury  Lane  to  plays."* 

In  the  latter  end  of  1708,  the  celebrated  evirato,  the 
ChevaUer  Nicolino  Grimaldi,  commonly  called  ISTicolini, 
arrived  in  London.  For  him  and  for  Valentini  (an  evirato, 
who  had  preceded  him  in  March,  1707)  was  reproduced 
the  Pyrrlms  and  Demetrius  of  Alessandro  Scarlatti, 
"adapted  to  the  English  stage  by  Haym,  who  composed 
a  new  overture  and  additional  songs,  w^hich  have  consid- 
erable merit."t  They  sang  their  parts  in  Italian,  while 
the  rest  of  the  company  sang  in  English.  I  have  a  copy 
of  Pyrrhus^  and  one  of  Conti's  Clotilda  (issued  imme- 
diately afterward,  in  1809),  printed  half  in  Italian  and 
half  in  English,  just  as  they  were  performed.  Burney 
says,  "  I  am  very  glad,  for  the  honor  of  our  country, 
that  this  absurdity  was  practiced  in  other  countries  as 
well  as  in  England ;  for  Riccoboni,  in  his  General  His- 
tory of  the  Stage^  tells  us  that  at  Hamburg,  in  the  early 
operas,  sung  in  the  Italian  manner,  the  recitatlvos  toere 
in  the  German  language  and  the  airs  generally  in  Ital- 
ian.''^ Busby  calls  those  macaronic  pieces  "  galUmau- 
fries." 

The  lirst  work  which  was  sung  entirely  in  Italian,  and 
by  Italian  artists,  was  Ahnahide^  by  an  unknown  com- 
poser, which  was  produced  at  the  Haymarket  Theater  in 
the  month  of  January,  1710.     The  second  was  the  Hy- 

*  See  Appendix  D. 

t  Vide  Buniey.  "  Nicolo  Francesco  Haym  was  a  native  of  Eome.  He 
came  to  London  about  the  year  1707,  and  engaged  with  Clayton  and 
Dieupart,  in  the  attempt  to  establish  an  Italian  opera  there."  {Musical 
B'wgra-phy^  1814,  vol.  ii.)  He  was  afterward  the  author  of  many  libret- 
tos, which  were  set  to  music  by  Handel. 


48  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

daspes  of  Mancini,  given  on  the  3d  of  May  following ; 
but  in  order  not  to  take  the  audience  too  much  out  of 
their  own  country,  national  music  was  given  between 
the  acts.  The  Daily  Post  announces  Almahide^  "  with 
English  singing  between  the  acts  by  Doggett,  Mrs.  Lind- 
say, and  Mrs,  Cross." 

Everywhere  and  in  every  thing  there  are  the  men  of 
yesterday  opposing  the  men  of  to- day  ;  the  conservative 
party  acting  as  the  eternal  enemies  of  progress.  These 
attacked,  in  every  possible  manner,  "  the  extravagant  in- 
novation" of  not  singing  foreign  music,  and  above  all 
Italian  music,  to  English  words.  Addison,  whom  it  is 
astonishing  to  find  among  them — Addison,  who  used 
himself  to  deride  the  Anglo-Italian  operas,  which  he 
called  "  a  confusion  of  tongues,"  attacked  still  more  ve- 
hemently the  "  taste"  of  having  a  theater  in  which  not 
a  word  could  be  understood.  He  says,  wittily  enough, 
that  the  amateurs  of  this  country,  tired  with  only  under- 
standing the  half  of  the  piece,  found  it  more  convenient 
not  to  understand  any;  "it  does  not,"  says  he,  "want 
any  great  measure  of  sense  to  see  the  ridicule  of  this 
monstrous  practice."*  Addison,  in  the  Spectator^  and  his 
friend.  Sir  Richard  Steele,  in  the  TatUi\  expended  a 
great  deal  of  wit  upon  this  ungrateful  theme.  But,  in 
spite  of  all  this,  the  luxury  of  an  Italian  opera  has  not 
yet  been  abandoned  ;  nor  will  it  ever  be  in  any  civilized 
country.  The  audience  think  much  less  of  the  words 
that  are  sung  than  of  the  manner  in  w^hich  they  are  sung 
and  set  to  the  music.  The  poem  only  serves  to  indicate 
the  situation ;  the  words  which  express  that  are  under- 
stood without  difficulty,  and  it  is  easy  to  perceive  whether 
the  composer  has  properly  interpreted  them.  The  idiom 
of  all  operas,  and  of  Italian  operas  especially,  is  the  mu- 
sic— a  universal  idiom.  Who  knows  the  author  who 
WTote  the  words  of  any  single  lyric  masterpiece  in  Ger- 
many, France,  or  the  banks  of  the  Tiber  ?  What  libretto 
*  See  Spectator^  No.  18. 


ADDISON     AND     STEELE.  49 

has  been  so  good  as  to  survive  the  failure  of  its  score  ? 
Or  what  Ubretto  so  bad  as  to  injure  a  fine  score?  Let 
the  truth  be  spoken.  In  1*707,  Addison  produced  at 
Drury  Lane  a  Rosamond  in  English,  with  music  com- 
posed by  Thomas  Clayton,  who  (according  to  Busby) 
had  acquired,  in  the  course  of  a  journey  to  Rome,  a  little 
taste  and  a  great  deal  of  conceit.  Rosamond  had  not 
more  than  three  representations,  and  Burney  does  not 
attempt  to  conceal  that  the  shafts  of  the  Sipectator 
against  the  Italians  were  intended  by  Addison  to  revenge 
the  failure  of  his  own  Rosamond.  It  may  be  readily 
supposed,  however,  that  the  English  musicians  and  sing- 
ers agreed  with  Addison  in  his  criticism  on  the  Italian 
mania.  Carey  says,  in  speaking  of  a  foreign  songstress, 
whom  he  does  not  name  : 

"  With  better  voice  and  fifty  times  lier  skill, 
Poor  Bobinson  is  always  treated  ill ; 
But,  such  is  the  good-nature  of  the  town, 
'Tis  now  the  mode  to  cry  the  English  down." 

"  Poor  Robinson,"  however,  was  not  so  poor  after  all ; 
for  she  left  the  stage,  in  1724,  to  become  the  Countess 
of  Peterborough.  She  had  made  her  debut  in  1714, 
while  still  very  young,  as  a  soprano ;  but  her  voice 
deepened  insensibly  into  a  contralto. 

But  in  spite  of  Addison,  Steele,  and  Carey,  London  did 
not  abandon  its  passion  for  Italian  operas.  The  poet  Aaron 
Hill,  then  the  director  of  the  Haymarket  Theater,  re- 
garded the  advent  of  Handel  as  a  godsend.  He  made  an 
English  libretto  out  of  the  episode  o^  Rinaldo  and  Ar- 
'inida^  in  Tasso's  Jerusalem,  Delivered^  which  the  chapel- 
master  of  Hanover  set  to  music,  while  Giacomo  Rossi 
translated  it  into  Italian.  Rossi  was  quite  unable  to  keep 
pace  with  the  composer,  and  the  manner  in  which  he 
asks  pardon  for  the  defects  of  his  poem  is  rather  humor- 
ous.*    "The  Signer  Hendel,"  says  he,  "the  Orpheus  of 

»  "  Gradisci,  ti  prego,  discretto  lettore,  questa  mia  rapida  fatica,  e  se 
3 


50  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

our  agx^,  in  setting  to  music  tliis  lay  from  Parnassus,  has 
scarcely  given  me  time  enough  to  write  it,  and  I  have 
beheld,  to  my  great  astonishment,  an  entire  opera  har- 
monized to  the  last  degree  of  perfection,  in  the  short 
space  of  a  fortnight,  by  this  sublime  genius.  I  pray  you 
then,  discreet  reader,  to  receive  my  rapid  work,  and  if  it 
does  not  merit  all  your  praises,  at  least  do  not  refuse  it 
your  compassion — I  would  rather  say  your  justice,  re- 
membering how  short  a  time  I  have  had  to  write  it  in." 

Aaron  Hill  dedicated  Minaldo  to  "  Her  Most  Sacred 
Majesty  Queen  Anne : 

"  Madam — Among  the  numerous  arts  and  sciences 
which  now  distinguish  the  best  of  nations,  under  the 
best  of  queens.  Music,  the  most  engaging  of  the  train, 
appears  in  charms  we  never  saw  her  wear  till  lately; 
when  the  universal  glory  of  your  majesty's  illustrious 
name  drew  hither  the  most  celebrated  masters  from 
every  part  of  Europe. 

"Madam — This  opera  is  a  native  of  your  majesty's 
dominions,  and  was,  consequently,  born  your  subject,"  etc. 

The  author-manager,  who  declares  it  to  be  his  object 
"  to  give  to  two  senses  an  equal  pleasure,"  spared  no  ex- 
pense upon  the  mounting  of  the  piece;  and,  among  other 
innovations,  he  filled  the  gardens  of  Armida  with  living 
birds.  Colley  Gibber  says,  that  "the  elegance  of  the 
decorations  and  the  beauty  of  the  machinery  were  justly 
admired."  Addison,  hosvever,  was  not  among  the  num- 
ber of  admirers  ;  he  protested  against  a  score,  the  com- 
position of  which  had  only  occuj^ied  a  fortnight ;  and  he 
w^as  very  jocular  about  the  live  birds,  which  he  called 
"  sparrows."     And  wherefore  ?     Do  the  laws  of  theat- 

non  raerita  le  tuc  lodi,  almeno  non  privarla  del  tuo  compatimento,  che 
diro  piu  tosto  giustizia  per  un  tempo  cosi  ristretto,  poiche  il  Signer  Hen- 
del,  Orfeo  del  nostro  secolo,  nel  porla  in  musica,  a  pena  mi  diede  tempo 
di  scrivere  ;  e  viddi  con  mio  gran  stupore,  in  due  sole  settimane  armo- 
nizata  al  maggior  grade  di  perfezzione  uu  opera  iutiera." — Hawkins. 


(( 


KINALDO."  51 


riciil  illusion  absolutely  require  that  theatrical  birds 
should  be  of  pasteboard  ?  But  the  truth  is,  that  lii- 
naldo  was  the  third  opera  purely  Italian  which  had  been 
played  in  London,  and  that  was  three  times  as  much  as 
Avas  necessary  to  attract  the  satiric  lightning  of  the  Spec- 
tator.    O,  Rosatnond  ! 

The  first  representation  took  place  on  the  24th  of 
February,  1711,  with  immense  success.  Superior  to  any 
thing  that  had  yet  been  heard,  and  bearing  quite  a  new 
stamp,  Rlncddo  at  once  established  the  reputation  of  its 
author  in  this  country.  On  its  appearance,  it  was  played 
fifteen  times  without  intermission — a  rare  occurrence  in 
those  days.  Like  all  the  operatic  heroes  of  that  time, 
the  part  of  Rinaldo  is  written  for  an  evirato,  and,  there- 
fore, may  be  sung  also  by  a  woman  contralto.  It  was 
revived  in  1713,  with  Mrs.  Barbier  in  Rinaldo;  and,  in 
1714,  Signora  Diana  Vico  replaced  Mrs.  Barbier;  Nico- 
lini,  the  creator  of  this  part,  sang  it  again  at  Naples  in 
1718,  after  having  reappeared  in  it  at  London  in  1715 
and  1717.  Rinaldo  was  also  taken  to  Hamburg  in  1715. 
The  author  of  ^^mzmhad  left  a  great  reputation  in  that 
place,  where  many  of  his  works  were  performed,  whether 
in  Italian  or  translated  into  German.*  The  cavatina  in 
the  first  act,  "  Cara  sposa^^"  was  to  be  found,  in  1711, 
upon  all  the  harpsichords  of  Great  Britain,  as  a  model 
of  pathetic  grace.  The  march  was  adopted  by  the  regi- 
ment of  Life  Guards,  who  played  it  every  day  upon 
parade  for  forty  years.  According  to  Burney,  it  was  the 
march  in  Scipio  that  had  that  honor ;  but  that  of  Ri- 
naldo may  be  found  arranged  for  the  harpsichord,  under 
the  title  of  "  The  Royal  Guards'  March,"  in  the  Lady's 
Banquet^  a  selection  of  music  for  the  harpsichord,  pub- 

*  See  Mattheson.  Amadigi,  under  the  name  of  Oriana,  in  1717; 
Agrippina,  1718 ;  Badamisto,  under  the  name  of  Zenoiia,  1721 ;  Muzio 
and  Florldante,  in  1723 ;  Tamerlane^  Giulio  Cesare,  and  Ottone,  1725 ; 
Bicardo,  1729;  Ammeto,  1730;  BodeUnda,  1734;  and  Pow,  under  the 
name  of  Cleojida^  1732.  It  seems  that  the  people  of  Hamburg  were  not 
fond  of  masculine  names  to  operas. 


62  LIFEOF    HANDEL. 

lished  in  1*720.*  Like  the  regiments  themselves,  marches 
have  their  clays  and  their  strokes  of  fortune ;  and  this 
one,  after  a  long  and  honorable  existence,  was  subse- 
quently pressed  into  the  service  of  the  highway  robbers. 
Twenty  years  later,  Pepusch  made  out  of  it  the  Robbers' 
Chorus  in  the  Beggar's  Opera — "Let  us  take  road." 
The  brilliant  morceau  in  the  second  act  of  Rinaldo^  "  II 
tri-Cerbero,"  was  also  set  to  English  words,  "Let  the 
waiter  bring  clean  glasses,"  and  was  a  long  time  the 
most  popular  song  at  all  merry-makings.  But  what  shall 
be  said  of  "  Lascia  che  io  pianga  ?"  Stradella's  divine 
air,  "  I  miei  sospiii,"  has  nothing  more  moving  or  more 
profoundly  tender.  It  has  been  asserted  that  in  music 
the  heau  ideal  changes  every  thirty  years  ;  but  that  is  an 
ill-natured  criticism.  Certain  forms  of  accompaniment 
may  grow  out  of  fashion,  like  the  cut  of  a  coat ;  but  a 
fine  melody  remains  eternally  beautiful  and  always  agree- 
able to  listen  to.  The  Hundredth  Psalm  of  the  Middle 
Ages  is  as  magnificent  to-day  as  it  was  when,  three  or 
four  centuries  ago,  it  came  from  the  brain  of  its  unknown 
composer;  and  so  "Lascia  che  io  pianga,"  and  "I  miei 
sospiri,"  will  be  admirable  and  admired  to  the  end  of  the 
w^orld. 

Walsh,  the  publisher,  was  said  to  have  gained  £1500 
sterling  from  the  publication  of  Rinaldo^  which  drew 
from  Handel  this  complaint :  "  My  dear  sir,  as  it  is  only 
right  that  we  should  be  upon  an  equal  footing,  you  shall 
compose  the  next  opera,  and  Z  will  sell  it."t  Rinaldo 
was  sung  by  a  company  exclusively  Italian.  Boschi,  the 
basso,  distinguished  himself,  it  would  appear,  by  a  voice 
of  great  volume,  and  a  vigorous  style  of  acting.  In  a 
satire  against  the  prevailing  taste  for  harlequinades 
("  Harlequin  Horace,  or  the  Art  of  Modern  Poetry," 
1735)  may  be  found  this  line — 

"  And  Boschi-like,  be  always  in  a  rage  ;" 

*  See  "  Catalogue"— Article,  Rinaldo^  1711.  f  Hawkins. 


VISIT    TO     nALLE.  53 

with  this  note  :  "  A  useful  performer,  for  several  years,  in 
the  Italian  operas,  for  if  any  of  the  audience  chanced  un- 
happily to  be  hilled  to  sleep  by  these  soothing  entertain- 
ments, he  never  failed  of  rousing  them  up  again,  and  by 
the  extraordinary  fury  both  of  his  voice  and  action, 
made  it  manifest  that,  though  only  a  tailor  by  profession, 
he  was  7ii7ie  times  more  a  7iian  than  any  of  his  fellow- 
warblers." 

After  staying  six  or  seven  months  in  London,  the 
young  chapel-master  of  the  court  of  Hanover  was  ob- 
hged  to  return  to  his  post ;  but  he  was  not  permitted  to 
go  before  the  English  court,  and  the  public  had  ex- 
j)ressed  the  greatest  regret  at  losing  him  ;  and  Queen 
Anne,  who  admitted  him  to  take  a  ferewell  leave,  made 
him  promise  to  return  as  soon  as  he  could  obtain  the  per- 
mission of  his  sovereign. 

On  his  way  back,  he  again  found  time  to  pay  a  visit 
and  embrace  his  dear  mother  ;  and  according  to  the  reg- 
isters of  Notre  Dame  de  St.  Laurent,  at  Halle,  we  find 
that  in  the  year  1711  he  stood  godfather  in  that  church 
to  his  niece,  Johanna  Michael  sen.* 

Hughes's  "  Correspondence"  furnishes  the  following 
documents,  which  may  be  given  textually : — 

Mr.  RoNERf  TO  Mr.  Hughes.J 

"  Ce  Mardi,  31st  Juillet,  1711. 

*'  Monsieur, — Ayant  re^eu  ce  matin  une  lettre  de  Mr. 
Hendel,  j'ai  cru  ne  devoir  pas  manquer  a  vous  en  com- 
muniquer  aussitot  un  extrait  qui  vous  regarde,  et  qui  est 
ime  reponse  au  compliment  dont  vous  m'aviez  bien  voulii 
charger.  Je  lui  ecrirai  Vendredi  prochaine  ;  ainsi,  vous 
n'aurez,  si  vous  plait,  qu'  a  m'envoyer  ce  que  vous  aurez 

*  Forstemann. 

+  Andrew  Eoner,  a  German.  He  was  a  music-master  and  something 
of  a  composer. 

X  John  Hughes,  an  agreeable  poet,  painter,  and  musician.  He  died  in 
1720. 


54  LIFE    OF    HANDEL. 

destine  pour  liii ;  et  je  puis,  Monsieur,  vous  assurer  que 
si  I'honneur  de  votre  souvenir  lui  fait  un  sensible  plaisir, 
je  n'en  sens  pas  moins  par  le  raoyen  que  j'aurai  par  la 
de  faciliter  votre  correspondance  et  de  vous  donner  une 
preuve  de  la  consideration  extreme  avec  laquelle  j'ai 
I'honneur  d'etre.  Monsieur,  votre  tres  humble  et  tres 
obeissant  serviteur,  A.  Ronek." 

Extrait  de  la  Lettre  de  31.  Handel. 

"  Faites  bien  mes  compliments  a  Mr.  Hughes.  Je  pren- 
drai  la  liberte  de  lui  ecrire  avec  la  premiere  occasion. 
S'il  me  veut  cependant  honorer  de  ses  ordres,  et  d'y 
ajouter  ime  de  ses  charmantes  poesies  en  Anglois,  il  me 
fera  le  plus  sensible  grace.  J'ai  fait,  dejjuis  que  je  suis 
parti  de  vous,  quelques  progres  dans  cette  langue,"  etc.* 

After  his  return  to  Hanover,  it  is  generally  said  that 
Handel  composed  there  for  the  Princess  Caroline  (the 
step-daughter  of  the  elector)  the  thirteen  chamber  duets 
and  the  twelve  cantatas  printed  in  Arnold's  edition. 
There  are  one  hundred  and  fifty  cantatas  and  twenty- 

*  :Me.  Eonee  to  Mb.  Hughes. 

"  Tuesday,  31st  July,  1711. 
"Sir, — Having  this  morning  received  a  letter  from  Mr.  Handel,  I 
thought  it  my  duty  to  communicate  to  you,  as  soon  as  possible,  an  ex- 
tract which  concerns  you,  and  which  is  a  reply  to  the  compliment  which 
you  wished  to  send  by  me.  I  shall  write  to  him  on  Friday  next,  and 
therefore,  if  you  please,  you  have  only  to  send  me  whatever  you  intend 
for  him,  and  I  can  assure  you,  Sir,  that  if  the  honor  of  remembering  you 
gives  him  such  pleasvire,  I  can  not  feel  less  on  account  of  the  means  which 
I  shall  thereby  have  for  facilitating  your  correspondence,  and  for  giving 
you  a  proof  of  the  extreme  consideration  with  which  I  have  the  honor 
to  be,  Sir,  your  very  humble  and  most  obedient  servant, 

"  A.  EONER." 

Extract  from  Mr.  HandeVs  Letter. 
"  Pray  give  my  compliments  to  Mr.  Hughes.  I  shall  take  the  liberty 
of  writing  to  him  by  the  first  occasion.  In  the  mean  time,  if  he  will 
honor  me  with  his  commands,  and  will  add  to  them  one  of  his  charming 
poems  in  English,  he  will  do  me  the  greatest  kindness.  Smce  I  have 
left  you,  I  have  made  some  progress  in  the  language,"  etc. 


RESIDENCE    IN    HANOVER.  65 

four  chamber-duets  by  him,  and  it  would  be  difficult  to 
determine  the  precise  pieces  which  were  produced  at  the 
little  German  court.  JMainwaring  opines  that  the  words 
of  the  twelve  cantatas,  which  are  supposed  to  have  been 
written  at  Hanover,  were  written  there  by  the  Abbe 
Hortentio  Mauro  ;  but  then  it  is  necessary  to  suppose 
that  the  Elector  George  (who  had  already  the  Abbe 
Steffani  with  him)  must  have  had  a  predilection  for 
Catholic  priests,  such  as  few  Lutheran  princes  usually 
entertain.  The  thirteen  duets  contain  thirty-five  stro- 
phes, or  different  movements ;  the  twelve  cantatas  in- 
clude twenty-five  recitatives  and  twenty-eight  airs. 

"Whether  these  works  were  composed  at  Hanover  or 
not,  Handel  produced  nothing  else  while  he  remained 
there.  But,  indeed,  his  stay  was  not  very  long.  The 
place  was  too  small  for  that  mighty  genius,  and  he  could 
not  forget  the  triumphs  of  London  :  so  he  demanded  a 
new  leave  of  absence,  and  reappeared  in  England  in  the 
month  of  January,  1712,  at  the  latest ;  for  his  Ode  for 
Queen  Anne''s  Birth-day*  (which  Barney  dates  1713) 
was  sung  on  the  6th  of  February,  1712.  All  the  authors 
concur  in  stating  that  he  remained  in  Hanover  one  year, 
and  it  certainly  seems  not  a  little  extraordinary  that  the 
elector  should  have  permitted  his  chapel-master  to 
escape  from  him  again  so  quickly;  but  the  evidence  of 
authentic  documents  is  not  to  be  r<^sisted.  The  Theatri- 
cal Register  for  "March  22,  1712,  N.S."  (Xew  Style), 
announces : — "  For  Signor  Xicolini's  Benefit.  The  music 
performed  before  the  queen  on  her  birth-day,  and  the 
famous  scene  in  Thomyins^  by  Scarlatti."  Although  the 
name  of  Handel  does  not  appear  here,  the  date  suggested 
by  Burney,  and  the  precise  date  given  in  the  Theatrical 

*  Queen  Anne  was  born  in  London  on  the  6tli  of  February,  1664.  It 
is  curious  enough  that  among  so  many  historical  works,  of  whicli  tlie 
lives  of  kings  and  queens  form  the  only  pivot,  this  date  is  very  difficult 
to  find.  I  am  indebted  to  Dr.  Kimbault  for  it.  In  the  Daihj  Journal^ 
for  the  7ih  of  February,  1733,  may  be  read—"  Yesterday,  being  the 
birth-day  of  her  late  majesty  Queen  Anne,"  etc. 


66  LIFE    OP    HANDEL. 

Hegrister,  are  too  near  to  each  other  to  permit  us  to 
doubt  that  it  was  any  other  tlian  his  ode,  composed  of  airs, 
duets,  aud  choruses,  which  NicoHrii  sung  on  the  22d  of 
March,  1712.  Without  being  able  to  discover  whence  it 
was  that  Burney  obtained  his  date  of  1713,  it  is  proba- 
ble that  he  adopted  it  in  order  to  agree  with  the  general 
opinion  that  Handel  spent  an  entire  year  at  Hanover. 
The  journals  of  the  epoch  do  not  make  any  mention  of 
the  work,  and  the  original  MS.  (by  exception)  is  undated. 
Eccles  also  composed  an  ode  for  the  birth-day  of  Queen 
Anne ;  but  that  was  in  1707,  or,  at  any  rate,  it  was  pub- 
lished in  that  year  by  Walsh  ;  and  it  is  not  likely  that  it 
would  have  preserved  its  renown  until  1712,  sufficiently 
to  serve  for  the  attraction  at  a  benefit ;  and  if  (as  is 
probable)  it  was  Handel's  ode,  it  belongs  still  more  cer- 
tainly to  February,  1712,  since  Nicolini  quitted  England 
in  June,  1712.*  He  was  replaced  by  Yaleriano,  the 
creator  of  the  principal  parts  in  Pastor  Fldo^  which  was 
produced  on  the  21st  of  November  following ;  and  in 
Theseus^  produced  on  the  10th  of  January,  1713.f 

*  Spectator^  14th  Jnne,  1712;  quoted  by  Bnmey,  page  2S3. 

t  The  production  of  the  former  of  these  operas  took  place  (says  Col- 
man)  "  at  the  usual  price— of  boxes,  8s. ;  pit,  5s  ;  and  gallery,  2s.  6d." 
According  to  the  same  authority,  at  the  early  performances  of  Theseus^ 
"boxes  and  pit  together"  were  half  a  guinea,  and  afterward  "at  the 
usual  price."  The  usual  prices  of  places  were,  therefore,  at  that  time, 
8s.  for  the  boxes,  5s.  for  the  pit,  and  2s.  Gd.  for  the  gallery — something 
less  than  one  half  of  what  they  are  to-day  ;  but  the  managers  had  the 
right  to  risk  an  augraentatien  whenever  they  deemed  it  necessary.  Pastor 
Ficlo  was  dedicated  by  Giacomo  Eossi,  the  author  of  the  libretto  "  to  the 
most  illustrious  Lady  Anna  Cartwright."  It  was  often  revived,  and  un- 
derwent many  alterations  during  its  long  career.  An  analysis  of  these 
will  be  given  in  the  "  Catalogue." 

Mattheson  says  that  the  English  sovereigns  could  not  have  a  foreign 
chapel-master,  and  that  on  the  291  h  of  August,  1729,  he  received  from 
the  Crown-office,  at  Whitehall,  a  note,  stating  that  the  king  had  given  to 
his  chapel-master,  John  Eccles,  Esq.,  and  to  each  of  the  thirteen  musi- 
cians under  his  orders,  the  following  livery,  which  was  annually  bestowed 
upon  them;— Fourteen  yards  of  camlet,  to  make  a  long  clerical  robe: 
three  yards  of  black  velvet  for  the  borders  of  the  robe  ;  a  fur  lining  in 
lambskin ;  eight  yards  of  black  damask  for  a  coat ;  eight  of  fine  cotton 


THE    UTRECHT    TEDEUM.  57 

Apcart  from  their  intrinsic  beauty,  these  two  great 
works  were  altogether  novelties  for  England.  In  the 
article  "  Te  Deuiii,"  in  Bees's  Ct/clopcedia,  we  are  told, 
"  Handel's  elaborate  compositions,  so  new,  forcible,  and 
masterly,  must  have  had  a  great  eifect  on  an  English 
congregation,  who  never  heard  ecclesiastical  music  so  ac- 
companied. Instrumental  music,  except  organ-playing, 
was  but  little  cultivated  in  our  country  during  Purcell's 
time.  But  Handel,  besides  his  experience  in  Germany, 
had  heard  operas  and  masses  performed  by  great  bands 
in  Italy,  with  such  effects  as  were  unknown  in  our  coun- 
try till  he  came  hither  to  teach  us." 

The  Te  Deimi  and  the  Jubilate  w^ere  executed  on  the 
7th  of  July,  IVIS  :  it  is  not  precisely  known  where. 
Queen  Anne  does  not  seem  to  have  had  much  regard  for 
her  Parliament.  The  Post  Boy  of  the  2d  of  July  an- 
nounces that  "  her  majesty,  accompanied  by  the  Houses 
of  Lords  and  Commons,  goes  the  7th  to  St.  Paul's,  being 
the  day  appointed  for  the  thanksgiving."     But  the  same 

for  the  lining  of  the  coat ;  three  yards  of  velvet  for  a  "waistcoat,  or  justr- 
a«co/;p5  ;  and  three  yards  of  parget  for  the  lining  of  the  same."  It  ap- 
pears certain,  therefore,  that  in  England  music  was  formerly  encouraged 
as  a  trade,  since  foreign  productions  were  officially  excluded.  In  Ar- 
buthnofs  satire,  Harmony  in  an  Uproar  (1733),  an  account  is  given  of  a 
journey  to  the  moon,  during  which  the  author  becomes  composer  to  the 
opera-house  in  the  moon : — "  And  I  should  have  enjoyed  the  same  sta- 
tion in  the  court  chapels  and  public  temples,  only  that  place  could  not  be 
conferred  upon  a  foreigner.  Yet,  upon  all  solemn  occasions  they  were 
obliged  to  have  recourse  to  me  for  their  religious  music,  though  their 
ordinary  services  were  all  composed  and  performed  by  blockheads  that 
were  natives;  they  claiming,  from  several  laws,  a  right  hereditary  to 
have  the  places  in  their  temples  supplied  with  fools  of  their  own  coun- 
try." This  was  Handel's  own  story,  told  in  Voltaire's  style ;  for  Einaldo 
and  Pastor  Fldo  had  already  gained  for  him  so  much  reputation,  that 
when  the  peace  of  Utrecht  was  concluded,  on  the  31st  of  March,  1713,  ' 
he  was  selected  (in  spite  of  the  barbarous  law),  before  all  the  native 
musicians,  and  before  Eccles,  the  official  composer  of  the  chapel  royal, 
to  write  the  songs  for  the  solemn  thanksgiving.  The  Te  Deum  and 
grand  t/w^Z/a^e  which  he  composed  for  that  occasion  are  still  distinguished 
by  the  name  * '  Utrecht."  In  spite  of  their  Latin  titles,  they  are  in  En- 
clish,  according  to  the  usage  of  the  Anglican  Church. 


68  LIFEOFHANDEL. 

journal  of  the  4th  instant  informs  the  public  that  "her 
majesty  does  not  go  to  St.  Paul's,  July  the  7th,  as  she 
designed,  but  comes  from  Windsor  to  St.  James's,  to 
return  thanks  to  God  for  the  blessings  of  peace."*  It 
remains,  however,  to  be  ascertained,  whether  the  music 
and  the  Houses  of  Lords  and  Commons  left  the  metro- 
politan cathedral  in  order  to  follow  the  queen  to  the 
chapel  of  St.  James's.  Nevertheless,  the  queen  reward- 
ed Handel  very  munificently  with  a  pension  for  life  of 
£200.t 

His  success  as  harpsichordist  was  equal  to  that  which 
he  enjoyed  as  a  composer.  He  very  often  played  solos 
in  the  theater.  In  the  edition  oi  Rinaldo^  Armida's  air, 
"  V6  far  Guerra,"  is  printed  "  with  the  harpsichord  piece 
performed  by  Mr.  Hendel."  A  representation  of  Teseo  is 
advertised  for  the  16th  of  May,  1713,  "for  the  benefit  of 
Mr.  Hendel,  with  an  entertainment  for  the  harpsichord. "J; 
He  played  also  at  the  house  of  Thomas  Britton,  a  man 
who  deserves  particular  mention. 

Thomas  Britton  belonged  to  that  class  of  men  whom 
persons  of  limited  views  are  accustomed  to  term  the 
loioer  orders  of  society ;  for  he  gained  his  daily  bread  by 
cryhig  small  coal,  which  he  carried  about  the  streets  in 
a  sack  upon  his  shoulders.  He  lived  near  Clerkenwell 
Green,  a  quarter  of  the  town  with  which  fashionable 
people  were  scarcely  acquainted  before  he  made  it  illus- 
trious. How  it  came  to  pass  that  he  learned  to  play 
upon  the  viola  da  gamha%  is  not  known  ;  but  he  played 
upon  it,  and  he  was  so  much  of  an  artist,  that  he.grouped 
around  him  a  number  of  amateurs,  who  were  happy  to 
perform  concerted  music  under  his  direction.  Hawkins 
has  collected  many  of  their  names  : — John  Hughes,  the 
author  of  the  Siege  of  Damascus  /  Bannister,  the  violinist ; 

*  Kees's  C//dopcedla— Article,  "  Te  Deura." 

t  Anecdotes,  page  15.  X  See  Theatrical  Register. 

§  It  is,  therefore,  an  error  to  suppose  that  the  mola  da  gamla  was  in- 
troduced into  England  by  Attilio  in  1721.  The  instrument  which  he 
imported  was  the  viol  d''ainour. 


BRITTON,     THE    SMALL-COAL    MAN.  59 

Henry  Needier,  of  tlie  Excise-oflice  ;  Robe,  a  justice  of 
the  peace  ;  Sir  Roger  L'Estraiige,  gentleman  ;  Woolas- 
ton,  the  painter ;  Henry  Symonds  ;  Abiell  Wichello  ; 
and  Obadiah  Shuttleworth.  At  fii-st  tliey  admitted  their 
friends  to  these  reunions,  and  little  by  little  the  circle  of 
auditors  increased,  until  it  included  some  of  the  most 
distinguished  persons  in  the  town.  Britton  was  the  ten- 
ant of  a  stable,  which  he  divided  horizontally  by  a  floor ; 
on  the  gi-ound  floor  was  his  coal-shop.  The  upper  story 
formed  a  long  and  narrow  room,  and  it  was  in  this  cham- 
ber (in  which  it  was  scarcely  possible  to  stand  upright, 
and  where,  when  he  had  escaped  the  dangers  of  the 
little  dark  winding  stair-case,  the  visitor  found  no  sort  of 
convenience)  that  the  first  meetings  in  the  nature  of  pri- 
vate concerts  took  place  in  England,  and  instrumental 
music  was  first  played  regularly.  Here  it  was  that  from 
1678  to  1714  (the  period  of  liis  death)  the  itinerant 
small-coal  merchant  weekly  entertained  the  intelligent 
world  of  London  at  his  musical  soirees,  always  gratui- 
tously. Among  others  the  Duchess  of  Queensbury,  one 
of  the  most  celebrated  beauties  of  the  court,  v,-as  very 
regular  in  her  attendance.  All  newly-arrived  artists 
were  ambitious  to  appear  there.  Dubourg,*  the  violin- 
ist, played  there  immediately  on  his  arrival,  when  he  was 
from  nine  to  eleven  years  old.  Pepusch  and  Handel 
played  the  harpsichord  and  the  organ  there.  Hawkins 
mentions,  as  a  proof  of  the  great  consideration  ^vhich 
Britton  acquired,  that  he  was  called  "  Sir ;"  and  many 
persons,  unable  to  believe  that  a  man  of  that  class,  and 
of  such  a  business,  could  arrive,  by  natural  means,  to  be 
called  "  Sir,"  took  him  for  a  magician,  an  atheist,  and  a 
Jesuit. t     The  small-coal  dealer  w^as  indeed  something  of 

*  Dubourg:,  who  aftem'-ard  attached  himself  to  Handel,  was,  like  him, 
a  precocious  boy.  The  Theair'ical  Register  has  an  advertisement  for  the 
19th  of  April,  1716,  of  "A  concert  for  Mr.  Mathieu  Dubourg,  the  youth 
of  thirteen  years  of  age." 

+  The  word  "Jesuit"  is  evidently  put  last  by  Hawkins,  in  obedience 
to  the  law  of  gradation,  as  being  the  most  terrible  of  the  three. 


60  LIFE    OF    HANDEL. 

a  magician,  inasmucli  as  he  was  fond  of  old  manuscripts, 
of  which  he  bought  as  many  as  his  business  would  per- 
mit him  to  do.  At  his  death  (in  Septeinber,  1V14)  he  left 
behind  him  a  very  fine  collection — the  catalogue  of  which 
was  printed — and  also  a  great  many  instruments,  among 
which  was  a  harpsichord,  and  "  an  organ,  fit  for  a  room." 
Woolaston  painted  two  portraits  of  his  friend  Britton, 
and  Hawkins  has  given  one  of  them  among  the  portraits 
in  his  History  of  Music.  This  extraordinary  man  is 
represented  in  a  kind  of  dustman's  hat,  a  blouse,  and  a 
neckerchief  knotted  like  a  rope. 

John  Bannister,  of  whom  Crosse  says  that  he  was 
"  the  first  Englishman  who  distinguished  himself  on  the 
violin,"  had  attempted  something  like  a  public  concert 
in  1672.  In  the  3Iemoirs  of  Mustek^  by  Roger  North 
(attorney-general  under  James  the  Second),  we  are  told  : 
"  The  next  essay  was  of  the  elder  Bannister,  who  had 
a  good  theatrical  vein,  and  in  composition  had  a  lively 
style  peculiar  to  himself.  He  procured  a  large  room  in 
Whitefryars,  near  the  Temple  back  gate,  and  made  a 
large  raised  box  for  the  musicians,  whose  modesty  re- 
quired curtains.  The  room  ^vas  rounded  with  seats  and 
small  tables,  ale-house  fashion.  One  shilling  w^as  the 
price,  and  call  for  what  you  pleased.  There  was  very 
good  musick,  for  Bannister  found  means  to  procure  the 
best  hands  in  towne,  and  some  voices  to  come  and  per- 
form there ;  and  there  wanted  no  variety  of  humour,  for 
Bannister  himself  {inter  alia)  did  wonders  upon  flageo- 
lett  to  a  thoro'  base,  and  the  severall  masters  had  their 
solos.  This  continued  full  one  winter,  and  more  I  re- 
member not." 

Hawkins*  extracts  the  advertisement  of  these  con- 
certs from  the  London  Gazette  for  the  30th  of  Septem- 
ber, 1072  : — "These  are  to  give  notice,  that  at  Mr.  John 
Bannister's  house  (now  called  the  musick-school),  over 
against  the  George  Tavern,  in  White  Fryers,  this  present 

*  Pu^e  763. 


WATER    MUSIC.  61 

Monday  will  be  mnsick  performed  by  excellent  masters, 
beginning  precisely  at  four  of  the  clock  in  the  afternoon, 
and, every  afternoon  for  the  future,  precisely  at  the  same 
hour." 

But  to  continue.  When  Handel  found  himself  in  Lon- 
don, sought  after,  admired,  and  in  universal  request,  he 
could  never  makeup  his  mind  to  return  to  Hanover; 
and  thus  he  was  guilty  of  forgetting  his  promise,  in  or- 
der to  remain  upon  a  stage  more  proportioned  to  the 
power  and  activity  of  his  mind.  It  was  for  this  reason 
that  he  was  in  no  great  hurry  to  present  himself  to  the 
new  king,  when  the  Elector,  George  of  Brunswick,  suc- 
ceeded Queen  Anne,  who  died  on  the  1st  of  August, 
1714.  George  the  First  arrived  in  England  on  the  18th 
of  September,  1714,  and  was  crowned  at  Westminster 
on  the  20th  of  October  following.  He  was  all  the  more 
irritated  against  his  truant  chapel-master  for  having 
written  the  Te  Deum  on  the  Peace  of  Utrecht,  which 
was  not  favorably  regarded  by  the  Protestant  princes  of 
Germany.  A  Hanoverian  baron  named  Kilmanseck,  a 
gi-eat  admirer  of  Handel  and  a  friend  of  George  the 
First,  undertook  to  bring  them  together  again.  -  Being 
informed  that  the  king  intended  to  picnic  upon  the  river 
Thames,  he  requested  the  artist  to  compose  something 
for  the  occasion.  Handel  wrote  the  twenty-five  little 
pieces  of  concerted  music  known  under  the  name  of 
Water  Music,  and  caused  them  to  be  executed  in  a 
barge  which  followed  the  royal  boat.  The  orchestra 
w^as  somewhat  numerous ;  for  it  consisted  of  four  violins, 
one  viol,  one  violoncello,  one  counter-bass,  two  hautboys, 
two  bassoons,  two  French-horns,  two  flageolets,  one  flute, 
and  one  trumpet.  King  George  had  no  difiiculty  in  rec- 
ognizing the  author  of  the  symphonies,  and  he  felt  Iiis 
resentment  against  Handel  begin  to  soften.  Shortly  after- 
ward, Geminiani,  the  violinist,  a  celebrated  pu|)il  ofCorelli's 
school,  was  about  to  play  in  the  king's  j^rivate  cabinet 
some  sonatas  which  lie  had  composed,  but  fearing  that 


62  LIFE    OF    HANDEL. 

tliey  would  lose  much  of  their  effect  if  they  were  accom- 
23anied  in  an  inferior  manner,  he  expressed  a  desire  to  be 
assisted  by  Handel.  Kiiraanseck  carried  the  request  to 
the  king,  supporting  it  strongly  with  his  own  recom- 
mendation ;  and  eventually  George  the  First  consented, 
and,  to  seal  the  peace,  added  a  pension  of  £200  to  that 
which  the  fugitive  from  Hanover  already  held  from  the 
bounty  of  Queen  Anne.  Handel  was  subsequently  ap- 
pointed music-master  to  the  daughters  of  the  Prince  of 
Wales  (afterward  George  the  Second),  and  for  this  he 
received  out  of  the  privy  purse  of  the  princess  (after- 
ward Queen  Caroline)  a  third  pension  of  £200.  The 
excellent  Kilmanseck,  who  rendered  this  good  service  to 
Handel,  was  somewhat  of  a  composer.  In  the  Lady''s 
Banquet  there  are  two  or  three  little  pieces  for  the 
harpsichord  by  him. 

The  water-party  which  has  been  mentioned,  was  quite 
a  fete.  Malcolm  has  given  an  account  of  it  in  his  chatty 
book:  "August  22,  1715.  The  king,  the  Prince  and 
Princess  of  Wales,  and  a  large  party  of  nobility,  went  in 
barges  with  music  from  Whitehall  to  Limehouse.  When 
they  returned  in  the  evening,  the  captains  of  shipping 
suspended  lanterns  in  their  rigging,  and  the  houses  on 
both  sides  of  the  river  were  illuminated,  and  incredible 
number  of  boats  filled  with  spectators  attended  on  the 
royal  party,  and  cannons  were  continually  fired  dur- 
ing the  day  and  evening."  ]VJalcolm  mentions  another 
splendid  aquatic  procession  of  the  same  kind  which  took 
place  in  July,  1717,  for  which  he  says  Handel  expressly 
composed  music.  This  is  a  mistake.  Water  Music  was 
perhaps  repeated  in  1717,  but  it  was  written  for  the 
party  of  August,  1715,  since  it  served  to  reconcile  the 
composer  and  the  king  shortly  after  George  the  First's 
accession  to  the  throne.  Besides,  as  will  presently  be 
seen,  Handel  did  not  pass  the  year  1717  in  England. 

But  before  his  reconciliation  with  the  king,  that  is  to 
say,  in  the  month  of  May,  1715,  he  had  produced  at  the 


TASTE    FOR    PARODIES.  63 

theater  in  tlie  Haymarket  a  new  opera,  Amadlgi^  which 
gave  occasion  to  great  eiforts  in  the  way  of  decoration 
and  costumes.  Advertised  for  Saturday,  the  21st  of 
May,  it  was  put  oft"  to  the  25th,  "  all  the  clothes  and 
scenes  being  new,  with  variety  of  dancing;"  and  on  the 
25th  of  May,  the  day  of  its  first  representation,  the  fol- 
lowing advertisement  appeared  :  "  And  whereas  there 
is  a  great  many  scenes  and  machinery  to  be  moved  in 
this  opera,  which  can  not  be  done  if  persons  should 
stand  on  the  stage,  where  they  could  not  be  without 
danger,  it  is  therefore  hoped  nobody,  even  the  sub- 
scribers, will  take  it  ill  that  they  must  be  deny'd  en- 
trance on  the  stage."* 

In  the  eighteenth  century,  when  manners  were  so 
corrupted  and  the  language  so  full  of  oaths,  another 
vulgarity  was  in  vogue — a  taste  for  parodies.  There 
was  nothing  so  serious  as  not  to  be  immediately  turned 
into  ridicule,  and  at  the  little  theater  in  Lincoln's  Inn 
Fields  a  burlesque  Amaclls  was  immediately  produced, 
"with  all  the  sinkings,  flying,  and  usual  decorations. 
And  whereas  there  is  many  scenes,"  etc.,  etc. 

Among  the  decorative  novelties  at  the  King's  Theater 
a  certain  fountain  seems  to  have  made  a  great  sensation, 
according  to  the  following  advertisement:  "June  20th, 
1716.  By  Command.  For  the  instrumental  musick, 
Amadis — with  all  scenes  and  clothes  belonging  to  the 
opera,  particidarly  the  fountain  8ce7ie?'^\  Foimtains  for 
the  stage,  with  water,  are  perhaps,  after  all,  only  a  re- 
vival of  the  invention  of  1716  ;  and  it  may  be  observed, 
by  the  way,  that  tableaux  viva7its  are  not  very  much 
more  modern.  The  thing  itself,  if  not  the  name,  may  be 
found  in  the  advertisement  of  the  Dalli/  Courant  for  the 
6th  of  April,  1710  :  "  For  Betterton's  benefit  and  last  ap- 
pearance, the  Maid's  Tragedy.  To  which  will  be  added, 
three  designs,  representing  the  principal  actions  of  the 
play,  in  imitation  of  so  many  great  pieces  of  history 
•ical  Register.  t  Malcolm. 


64  -  LIFEOF    HANDEL. 

painting^  where  nil  the  real  persons  concerned  in  those 
actions  will  be  placed  at  proper  distances,  in  different 
positions,  peculiai-  to  the  passion  of  each  character. 
This  has  been  often  performed  in  the  theaters  abroad, 
but  never  yet  attempted  on  the  English  stage."  Bur- 
ney,  who  speaks  of  Amadis  as  a  masterpiece,  quotes  es- 
pecially the  air  "  S'estinto  el'  idol  mio ;"  and  every  one 
who  has  heard  it  will  agree  with  him  that  it  is  one  of  the 
most  magnificent  of  Handel's  magnificent  inspirations. 
He  adds,  "the  bright  and  brilliant  tone  of  the  violins 
playing  in  octaves,  from  which  so  many  pleasing  effects 
have  lately  been  produced,  seems  to  have  been  first  dis- 
covered by  Handel  in  the  accompaniment  of  the  cavatina 
'  Sussurrate  onde  vezzose,'  which  must  have  delighted 
and  astonished  every  hearer."  The  people  of  Rome  had 
already,  in  1708,  enjoyed  the  novelty  of  1715,  for  in  the 
orchestration  of  the  Resurreczione  "  violini  all'  ottava" 
occurs  twice. 

The  poem  of  Amadigi  is  signed,  in  right  of  his  author- 
ship, by  tlie  new  manager,  James  Heidegger,  commonly 
called  the  "  Swiss  Count."  He  was  said  to  be  the  ugliest 
man  of  his  time  ;  and  his  portrait,  in  that  character,  was 
engraved  at  least  ten  or  twelve  times.  Lord  Chesterfield 
wagered  that  it  was  impossible  to  discover  a  human 
being  so  disgraced  by  nature.  After  having  searched 
through  the  town,  a  hideous  old  woman  was  found,  and 
it  was  agreed  that  Heidegger  was  handsomer.  But  as 
Heidegger  was  pluming  himself  upon  his  victory,  Ches- 
terfield required  that  he  should  put  on  the  old  woman's 
bonnet.  Thus  attired,  the  Swiss  Count  appeared  hor- 
ribly ugly,  and  Chesterfield  was  unanimously  declared 
the  winner,  amid  thunders  of  applause.* 

This  man,  who  made  so  light  of  a  joke  at  his  own  ex- 
pense, dedicated  the  libretto  of  Amadis  to  the  Earl  of 
Burlington,  saying  that  the  music  had  been  composed  at 
the  earl's  house.f  The  poem  of  Teseo  is  also  dedicated 
*  Malcolm.  t  Burn  e v. 


"  A  M  A  D  I  S  ."  65 

to  the  same  person  by  Nicolo  Haym.  Many  of  the 
great  contested  the  honor  of  having  the  celebrated 
Saxon  nnisician  near  them.  In  the  first  place,  he  passed 
an  entire  year  at  the  honse  of  a  private  gentleman  (Mr. 
Andrews*),  and  afterward  (about  the  year  1716)  he  ac- 
cepted the  hospitality  of  Lord  Burlington,  requiting  it 
by  directing  the  musical  soirees  of  that  celebrated  ama- 
teur, who  had  built  for  himself  "  a  house  in  the  middle 
of  the  fields,"  near  the  town.  When  the  king  asked  him 
why  he  w^ent  so  far  to  live,  he  replied  that  he  was  fond 
of  solitude,  and  that  he  was  certain  that  he  had  found  a 
place  where  no  one  would  come  and  build  beside  him. 
It  is  a  hundred  and  thirty  years  since  he  said  this.  The 
aristocratic  quarter  was  then  in  the  Strand  and  Charing 
Cross ;  yet  Piccadilly,  where  the  house  of  this  solitary 
lord  is  to  be  found,  is  now  one  of  the  most  central  and 
fashionable  spots  in  London.  At  the  house  of  this  noble- 
man, Handel  acquired  the  friendship  of  Pope,  Gay,  and 
the  shrewd  Arbuthnot,  who  sided  wdth  him  in  the  day 
of  trial.  Gay,  in  his  prosaic  poem.  Trivia^  oi\tlie  Art 
of  Walking  the  Streets  of  London^  has  seized  the  occa- 
sion, in  passing  before  the  "  fair  palace"  of  Picadilly,  to 
record  the  fact  of  Handel's  residence  there  : 

"There  Henclel  strikes  the  strings,  the  melting  strain 
Transports  the  soul,  and  thrills  through  every  vein  ; 
There  oft  I  enter."  Trivia,  book  ii. 

Handel  wrote  one  of  the  six  hautboy  concertos  speci- 
ally for  a  representation  of  Amadls  given  on  the  20th 
of  Jime,  1716,  for  the  benefit  of  the  orchestra. f  From 
that  time  up  to  1718,  all  trace  of  him  in  England  is  lost. 
Did  he  remain  with  Lord  Burlington,  inactive  and  dumb, 
during  all  that  space  of  time  ?  There  are  many  2:)roofs 
to  induce  us  to  believe  the  contrary.^ 

*  Anecdotes,  p.  16.  +  Burney  and  Colman. 

X  In  the  Anecdotes  of  Handel  and  SmitJi  [p.  37]  it  is  recorded  that 
"when  Handel  arrived  at  Anspach,  in  1716,  J.  C.  Smith  renewed  an  ac- 


66  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

It  accords  with  probability  that  Handel  followed 
George  the  First  to  Hanover  in  July,  1716,  and  re- 
mained some  time  with  Prince  Frederic,  after  the 
return  of  the  king  to  England.  It  was  probably  during 
this  stay  in  Hanover  (in  1717)  that  he  wrote  his  German 
oratorio,  Tlie  Passioti.  Mattheson  says  : — "  At  Ham- 
burg was  played  Handel's  Passion^  which  he  had  com- 
posed in  England,  and  sent  by  the  post  in  a  score  writ- 
ten very  minutely.  My  oratorio  was  sung  in  1718  in 
preference  to  his  and  to  that  of  Telemann,  although  they 

qnaintance  whicli  had  commenced  at  Halle,  and  soon  became  so  cap- 
tivated with  that  great  mastei-'s  powers  that  he  accompanied  him  to 
England,  where  he  regulated  the  expenses  of  his  public  performances, 
and  filled  the  office  of  treasurer  with  great  fidelity."  This  Smith  was 
the  father  of  Christopher  Smith,  who  was  born  in  1712,  and  whose  name 
is  associated  with  that  of  the  composer  in  tlie  title-page  of  these  "Anec- 
dotes." As  this  little  work  (which  is  dedicated  to  Peter  Coxe)  is  very 
generally  attributed  to  the  Keverend  William  Coxe,  who  was  tlie  step- 
son of  Smith,  it  evidently  embodies  many  family  recollections,^  and  it  is 
difficult  to  believe  that  this  account  given  of  the  arrival  in  London  of 
the  first  Smith  is  not  a  faithful  tradition.  It  appears,  moreover,  so  nat- 
ural to  the  writer  that  he  does  not  even  take  the  trouble  to  explain  the 
presence  of  the  composer  at  Anspaeh.  Mattheson,  for  his  part,  says  in 
the  Eliren-Pforte  :  "  In  1717,  Handel  was  at  Hanover  with  the  heredit- 
ary prince  elector,  now  King  of  England.  I  received  from  him  at  this 
date  letters,  dated  from  Hanover,  on  the  subject  of  my  work  upon  the 
orchestra,  which  I  had  dedicated  to  him  and  other  musicians."  If  we 
observe  the  coincidence  of  these  assertions,  proceeding  from  authors 
who  had  every  opportunity  of  being  well-informed,  and  if  we  consider 
the  lacuna  which  appears  in  the  life  of  the  composer  precisely  at  this 
epoch,  it  seems  almost  certain  that  he  passed  in  Germany  at  least  a  part 
of  1716,  1717.  The  Daily  Courant  tells  us  that  George  the  First  went  to 
Hanover  on  the  7th  of  July,  1716,  and  came  back  again  on  the  18th  of 
January,  1717,  and  that  the  Prince  of  Wales  went  to  meet  him  on  his 
return  home.  The  Prince  of  Wales  was  then  Prince  George,  afterward 
King  George  the  Second.  Mattheson  must  have  made  a  mistake,  for  it 
was  doubtless  Frederic,  the  son  of  the  future  George  the  Second,  who, 
at  eleven  years  of  age,  was  residing  at  Hanover. 


1  In  spite  of  that,  however,  it  only  merits  a  limited  confidence.  It  was  pub- 
lished in  1799,  after  the  death  of  Smith,  the  son.  The  editor  only  wrote  from 
memory,  and,  according  to  all  appearance,  he  had  no  notes  to  refer  to,  for  he  com- 
mits many  palpable  mistakes.  He  does  not  even  give  the  birth-place  of  Handel 
correctly,  for,  instead  of  Halle,  he  says  that  the  great  composer  was  born  at  Hall, 
in  1786. 


THE    GERMAN     "  PASSION."  67 

were  much  older  than  mine."  Handel's  Passion  was, 
therefore,  executed  in  Hamburg  before  1718  (probably 
in  1717),  since  Mattheson  speaks  of  it  as  a  recent  thing. 
He  affirms,  it  is  true,  tliat  it  was  sent  from  England ;  but 
it  has  been  shown  that  Handel  was  at  Hanover  about  the 
middle  of  1716  and  during  1717. 

It  is,  therefore,  more  probable  that  it  was  sent  from 
Hanover,  where  the  poem  (written  by  "  Brockes  of 
Hamburg"*)  would  be  addressed  to  him.  This  conjec- 
ture coincides  with  known  facts;  and  if  we  refuse  to 
entertain  it — if  the  German  Passion  did  not  occupy 
Handel's  time  while  he  was  at  Hanover,  he  must  have 
remained  a  year  and  something  more  without  having 
produced  any  thing  whatever ;  for  nothing  else  can  be 
quoted  as  belonging  to  that  epoch. 

Whatever  date  it  belonged  to,  however,  this  was  a 
work  whose  very  name  is  now  almost  unknown.  Bur- 
ney  laconically  quotes  the  three  lines  by  Mattheson, 
without  appearing  to  put  any  great  faith  in  them.  At 
the  end  of  his  list  of  works  of  Handel,  he  adds,  with 
equal  indifference,  "  in  the  collection  of  the  Earl  of 
Aylesford,  formed  by  the  late  Mr.  Jennens,  are  preserved 
in  MS.  many  valuable  works  of  our  author,  as  *  *  * 
Oratorio  delta  Passione.^^  From  this  it  is  plain  that  he 
never  saw  this  Passion,  w^hich  he  first  makes  out  to  be  a 
German  and  then  an  Italian  work.  M.  Fetis,  who  is  the 
only  one  to  mention  the  name  of  this  oratorio  after  Bur- 
ney,  merely  says  that  it  has  been  printed  by  M.M.  Breit- 
kopf  and  Hartel  of  Leipsic ;  which  is  not  true — for  these 
gentlemen,  in  reply  to  reiterated  inquiries  after  a  copy, 
return  for  answer  that  their  firm  has  never  printed  a 
Passion  by  Handel.  In  the  Buckingliam  Palace  col- 
lection, however,  I  have  had  the  satisfaction  of  discover- 
ing a  copy.  It  is  easy  to  understand  how  it  was  that  the 
com^DOser  only  kept  a  copy  for  himself  when  the  original 

*  Mattheson. 


68  LIFE    OF    HANDEL. 

was  sent  to  Hamburg ;  but  every  thing  guaranties  tlie 
authenticity  of  that  copy. 

When  Handel  was  composing,  it  was  his  custom  always 
to  speak  Italian  to  himself,  and  out  of  ten  memoranda  on 
his  MSS.  nine  are  in  that  language.  In  that  of  Athalia^ 
for  example,  he  writes — "  Qui  si  replica  con  queste  parole 
'  Bless  the  Ghurcli  y'  "  and  in  Judas  3Iaccahmus^  in  the 
middle  of  the  air  "  Lovely  grace,"  which  he  changes  into 
a  duet,  he  writes — "  Qui  commincia  il  duetto  in  vece  dell' 
aria."  This  habit  had  been  acquired  when  he  wrote  the 
German  Passion^  in  the  MSS.  of  which  may  be  fovmd, 
among  other  notes — "  Segue  la  seconda  strofa." 

The  oratorio  of  the  same  name,  which  Jennens  pos^ 
sessed,  confirms  the  exactness  of  Mattheson's  note. 
Charles  Jennens,  the  author  of  the  words  of  The  Mes- 
siah and  of  Belshazzar,  was  intimate  with  Handel,  and 
would  certainly  not  have  possessed  a  work  bearing  his 
name  which  was  not  perfectly  authentic. 

But  there  is  something  more  decisive  than  all  this. 
Madame  Yiardot,  who  is  as  excellent  a  linguist  as  she  is 
accomplished  as  a  musician,  has  examined  for  rae  the 
existing  copy  at  Buckingham  Palace.  It  is  full  of  beau- 
ties entirely  Handelian.  Among  others,  the  air  of  Jesus 
in  the  garden  of  Gethsemane,  "  Father,  Father,  have 
pity  on  me,"  is  of  incomparable  grandeur ;  the  anguish 
of  sadness  is  depicted  there  with  penetrating  depth  and 
moderation ;  the  voice  seems  to  be  stifled  with  the  ex- 
cess of  grief.  May  the  lovers  of  music  enjoy  one  day 
the  pleasure  of  hearing  it  sung  by  Madame  Viardot ! 

Henceforward,  therefore,  this  oratorio  must  be  enu- 
merated among  the  works  of  the  author  of  The  Messiah. 
Tlie  plan  of  the  poem  is  entirely  taken  from  the  gospel. 
The  personages  are  Jesus,  Peter,  John,  James,  Judas, 
Pilate,  Caiax)has,  the  Virgin,  and  three  Magdalens. 
There  is  also  a  cliorus,  with  an  "  Evangelist,"  who  an- 
nounces the  airs,  like  the  corypheus  of  the  old  Greek 
tragedies.     The  chorus  opens  the  first  scene,  "  The  Lord 


DUKEOFCHANDOS.  69 

will  deliver  us  from  the  bondage  of  sin."  The  Evangel- 
ist says  afterward,  in  recitative,  "  As  Jesus  was  sitting  at 
the  table  with  his  disciples,  having  the  Pascal  Lamb  be- 
fore him,  he  took  bread  and  gave  it  to  them  and  said" — 
Air  of  Jesus,  "  This  is  my  body,  take  and  eat,"  etc. 
There  are  not  less  than  fifty-five  morceaux,  airs,  duets, 
and  choruses  in  The  Passion. 

When  he  returned  to  London  in  1718,  Handel  found 
that  the  Italian  Theater  had  been  closed  since  the  begin- 
ning of  1717,  being  unable  to  support  itself;  but  the 
chapel  of  the  Duke  of  Chandos  was  in  a  flourishing  con- 
dition. The  Duke  of  Chandos,  formerly  paymaster- 
general  of  Queen  Anne's  army,  had  built,  near  the  vil- 
lage of  Edgeware  (nine  miles  from  London),  a  mansion 
called  Cannons. 

"  The  palace  of  the  Duke  of  Chandos  was  erected  in 
the  18th  century.  This  magnificent  structure,  with  its 
decorations  and  furniture,  cost  £230,000.  The  pillars  of 
the  great  hall  were  of  marble,  as  were  the  steps  of  the 
principal  stair-case,  each  step  consisting  of  one  piece  22 
feet  long.  The  establishment  of  the  household  was  not 
inferior  to  the  splendor  of  the  habitation.  Notwithstand- 
ing the  three  successive  shocks  which  his  fortune  received 
by  his  concern  in  the  African  Company,  and  the  Missis- 
sippi and  South  Sea  speculations  in  1718,  1719,  1720,  the 
duke  lived  in  splendor  at  Cannons  till  his  death  in  1744, 
rather  as  the  presumptive  heir  to  a  diadem  than  as  one 
of  her  majesty's  subjects.  So  extraordinary,  indeed, 
was  his  style  of  living,  that  he  was  designated  "  the 
grand  duke.''''* 

Among  other  objects  of  luxury,  this  duke  had  a 
chapel  furnished  like  the  churches  of  Italy.  It  was 
situate  a  short  distance  from  the  mansion,  and  we  are 
told  that  he  went  there  with  true  Christian  humiUty, 

*  A  Jmtrney  through  England,  by  Miss  Spencc,  quoted  in  How  to  be 
Bid  of  a  Wife,  a  romance  founded  on  the  last  marriage  of  the  Duke  of 
Chandos,  which  will  presently  be  mentioned. 


70  LIFE    OF    HANDEL. 

"attended  by  his  Swiss  guards,  ranged  as  the  yeomen 
of  the  guard."*  Every  Sunday  the  road  from  London  to 
Edgeware  was  thronged  with  carriages  of  the  members 
of  the  nobihty  and  gentry,  who  went  to  pray  to  God 
with  his  grace.  Dr.  Pepusch,  one  of  the  greatest  musi- 
cal celebrities  of  the  time,  was  the  first  chapel-master ; 
but  the  Duke  of  Chandos,  who  loved  ever  to  worship 
the  -Lord  wdth  the  best  of  every  thing,  made  proposals 
to  the  illustrious  Saxon,  and  persuaded  him  to  take  the 
place  of  Pepusch.  The  Musical  Bio g7X(ph]/  te\h  us  that 
"  Dr.  Pepusch  fully  acquiesced  in  the  opinion  of  Handel's 
superior  mei'it,  and  retired  from  his  eminent  and  honor- 
able situation  without  any  expression  whatever,  either  of 
chagrin  or  disappointment." 

The  wise  labor  for  their  oAvn  sakes,  for  their  own  satis- 
faction, and  in  the  midst  of  general  indifference  ;  but 
artists  only  work  when  they  are  excited  by  public  atten- 
tion. The  most  fruitful  have  need  of  external  animation 
to  become  productive,  and  require  immediate  applause. 
Handel,  having  an  orchestra  and  singers  at  his  disposal, 
with  the  guests  of  a  wealthy  nobleman  for  audience,  set 
himself  to  work  passionately.  It  was  at  Cannons  that 
he  wrote,  from  1718  to  1720,  the  two  TeDeums  and  the 
twelve  famous  Anthems,  called  the  Chandos  Te  Dev.nis 
and  the  Chandos  Anthems.  These  do  not  contain  less 
than  eleven  overtures,  thirty-two  solos,  six  duets,  one 
trio,  one  quartet,  and  forty-seven  choruses.  "  It  is  forty 
years,"  says  Busby,  "  since  I  heard  them  at  Covent  Gar- 
den, by  Dr.  Arnold ;  my  ear  still  retains  the  impression 
of  their  charm  and  my  mind  of  their  grandeur."  Un- 
happily these  great  works  are  now  neglected,  and  of  all 
the  musical  societies  not  one  performs  them.  Even  the 
promoters  of  the  festivals  w^hich  are  held  in  the  cathe- 
drals seem  to  be  unaware  of  their  existence !  It  is  to 
the  seventh  Chandos  Anthem  that  the  celebrated  trio, 
"  Thou  rulest  the  raging  of  the  sea,"  belongs,  and  to  the 
*  A  Journey  through  England. 


SACKED     MUSIC.  71 

sixth  the  not  less  celebrated  imitative  air,  "The  waves 
of  the  sea  rage  horribly."  The  chorus  in  the  ninth, 
"  For  who  is  God,  but  the  Lord,"  is  one  of  those  gigan- 
tic inspirations  in  which  Handel  is  without  an  equal.* 

*  All  the  sacred  music  of  Handel,  without  ceasing  to  be  religious,  has 
a  fire  and  an  active  exaltation  which  makes  it  wholly  distinct  from  the 
compositions  of  his  predecessors.  It  has  been  said  in  Belgium  that  re- 
ligious music,  when  impressed  with  this  character,  no  longer  answers  its 
poi-pose ;  that  it  becomes  a  contradiction  whenever  it  departs  from  the 
simplicity  of  the  old  masters.  Assuredly  nothing  could  be  more  absurd 
and  more  deplorable,  than  to  introduce  into  the  temple,  as  some  do,  the 
dramatic  style,  and,  above  all,  the  frivolities  oi  Jionture,  which  are  as 
out  of  place  in  the  church  as  they  are  tiresome  at  the  opera.  But  to 
give  to  the  songs  of  worship  a  greater  warmth  and  a  richer  orchestration 
than  Gregory,  Gombert,  or  Palestrina  would  admit,  appears  to  be  a  very 
different  thing  from  composing  cavatinas  or  scenic  pieces.  One  may 
differ  from  the  Carthusians  without  becoming  altogether  worldly.  In 
order  to  be  sure  that  this  is  so,  I  must  refer  to  my  own  impressions. 
The  masses  of  Beethoven,  Mozart,  and  Cherubini,  like  the  anthems  of 
Handel,  have  never  excited  in  me  (even  hearing  them  elsewhere  than  in 
a  church)  any  feeling  inconsistent  with  the  kind  of  meditation  which  is 
expressed  by  the  word  religions.  Therefore,  it  seems  to  me  that  they 
accomplish  their  object.  It  seems  to  me  to  be  as  natural  as  it  is  logical 
to  apply  to  this  kind  of  music  (as  to  every  other)  the  resources  of  mod- 
ern science  and  instrumentation ;  at  the  same  time  preserving  always  its 
proper  character.  To  honor  the  Divinity  as  we  ought,  we  should  em- 
ploy all  the  means  in  our  power.  The  simplicity  of  the  early  masters  is 
admirable ;  but  it  is  probable  that  they  would  have  been  less  simple  had 
they  been  richer.  Moreover,  where  are  we  to  stop  ?  If  the  Belgian 
school  be  in  the  right,  Palestrina  himself  is  not  entirely  free  from  re- 
proach ;  for  the  sweet  and  pleasant  tone  of  his  musical  phrase  is  very 
fur  removed  from  the  austerity  of  the  Plain-song.  With  sectarian  intol- 
erance, the  pure  Gregorians  might  accuse  him  of  being  effeminate. 

Those  who  attempt  to  circumscribe  sacred  composition  by  what  they 
call  tJie  true  style— thai  is  to  say,  a  grave  and  naked  melody— would  make 
of  music,  if  they  were  listened  to,  what  the  Greek  Church  made  of 
painting  :  they  would  retain  the  art  of  sacred  music  at  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury, as  the  Greek  Church  did  the  art  of  painting.  But  such  exaggera- 
tions never  lead  to  the  ^desired  end.  The  Plain-song  will  always  be 
beautiful  to  the  ear,  as  the  pictures  of  Cimabue,  Giotto,  Gaddi,  and 
Fiesole  are  to  the  eye ;  but  to  restrict  religious  art  to  these  is  nothing 
less  than  to  falsify  it,  and  to  render  it  ridiciilous.  Witness  the  modern 
religious  paintmgs  in  Greece  !  Could  any  thing  be  colder  oj  more  af- 
fected than  those  pasticeios  of  Byzantine  simplicity  upon  a  ground  of 
gold  ?  And  this  is  the  invariable  result  when  the  artist  is  condemned  to 
archaeological  researches,  rather  than  left  to  his  own  inspiration  to  make 


12  LIFE    OF     HANDEL. 

Handel  reduced  many  of  the  Chandos  Anthems  for 
the  chapel  of  George  the  First.  Even  at  Wmdsor  and 
St.  James's  these  arrangements  are  not  now  known,  and 
it  is  supposed  there  that  the  great  master  never  wrote 
any  thing  for  the  royal  chapels.  But  this  is  not  the  case  ; 
for  not  only  does  Burney  state  this  fact,  but  the  manu- 
scripts of  these  reductions  in  the  Buckingham  Palace 
collection  confirm  that  which  is  learned  by  tradition.* 
It  is  now  a  long  time  since  these  reductions  were  lost 
sight  of.  The  celebrated  "  As  pants  the  hart,"  was  re- 
arranged by  Dr.  Boyce,  at  the  express  command  of 
George  the  Third,  and  was  printed  in  Page's  Harmonica 
Sacra^  with  this  heading,  "  Adapted  to  voices  only,  by 
desire  of  his  present  majesty,  by  William  Boyce,  Mus. 
Doc."  Both  the  doctor  and  the  king  were  alike  igno- 
rant that  the  composer  had  already  done  the  very  thing 
which  they  presumed  to  do  over  again. 

Among  the  minor  sacred  music  of  Handel,  mention 
should  also  be  made  of  the  three  hymns  : — The  Invita- 
tion^  "  Sinners,  obey  the  Gospel  Word  ;"  Desiring  to 
Love^  "  O  Love  divine,  how  sweet  thou  art ;"  and  On 
the  Resurrection.,  "  Rejoice,  the  Lord  is  King !"  The 
poetry  of  these  three  solo  hymns  is  by  the  Rev.  Charles 
Wesley,  brother  and  coadjutor  of  John  Wesley,  the 
founder  of  the  great  sect  of  Wesleyan  Methodists.  Dr. 
Rimbault  has  kindly  communicated  a  note,  written  for 
his  father  by  Samuel  Wesley,  the  organist,  which  ex- 
plains the  somewhat  singular  origin  of  these  composi- 
tions : — "  The  late  comedian  Rich,  w^ho  was  the  most 
celebrated  harlequin  of  his  time,  was  also  the  proprietor 
of  Covent  Garden  Theater,  during  the  period  when  Han- 

nse  of  all  the  means  -witli  whicli  progress  has  furnished  him.  That,  in- 
deed, is  the  real  contradiction,  for  it  would  not  he  more  ahsurd  to  say 
that  a  man  ought  not  to  pray  beneath  the  vaulted  roof  of  an  old  Gothic 
cathedral  unless  clothed  in  an  ancient  doublet,  with  a  bonnet  on  his 
head,  and  peaked  shoes  upon  his  feet. 

*  The  proofs  will  be  cited  in  the  "  Catalogue" — Article,  "  Te  Deums 
of  1727,"  et  seq. 


SAMUEL     WESLEY.  73 

del  conducted  his  oratorios  at  that  house.  He  married 
a  person  wlio  became  a  serious  character,  after  having 
formerly  been  a  very  contrary  one,  and  who  requested 
Handel  to  set  to  music  the  three  hymns  which  I  tran- 
scribed in  the  Fitzwilliara  Library,  from  the  autography, 
and  published  them  in  consequence. — S.  Wesley,  March 
30,  1829." 

This  Samuel  Wesley  (whose  name  and  works  were  ex- 
tinguished with  his  life)  is  a  memorable  example  of  an 
abortive  vocation.  As  a  child,  he  was  much  more  pre- 
cocious than  even  Handel ;  for  at  three  years  of  age  he 
impromsed  upon  the  organ  I  A  portrait  of  him,  en- 
graved when  he  was  eight  years  old,  represents  him  in 
the  act  of  composition,  and  at  the  foot  of  the  table  is  a 
volume  ^n  which  is  written,  "jRw/A,  an  Okatokio,  hy 
Samuei   Wesley^  aged  eight  yearsy 

4 


CHAPTER  III. 

1720—1729. 

Handel  directs  the  Italian  Theater  for  the  Eoyal  Academy  of  Mtrsic 
—  ''Eadamisto"  —  "Esther" — "Acis" — The  Mansion  of  Cannons  —  The 
Duke  of  Chandos  buys  a  third  wife — "Suites  de  Pieces  pour  le  Cla- 
tecin" — The  Harmonious  Blacksmith — The  Environs  of  London  in  1720 
— Cabal  in  favor  of  Bononcini — Ariosti  Attilio — Handel's  Operas  pro- 
duced FOR  the  Academy — His  Italian  Airs  transmuted  into  Sacked 
Music — The  Cuzzonists  and  the  Faustinists — Coronation  Anthems — The 
Beggak's  Opera — Euin  and  Dissolution  cf  the  Eoyal  Academy  of 
Music— Poverty  of  the  Misen-Scene. 

Although  attaclied  to  the  chapel  of  the  Duke  of 
Chandos,  Handel  thre^Y  himself,  about  the  beginning 
of  1720,  into  an  enterprise  which  suited  the  activity  of 
his  mind.  A  company  of  French  comedians  occupied 
the  King's  Theater  in  the  Haymarket,  and  no  one  seemed 
to  be  tempted  to  revive  the  Italian  opera ;  when  a  few 
noblemen  conceived  the  idea  of  doing  so,  and  opened  a 
private  subscription,  which  amounted  to  £50,000.  A 
committee  of  twenty  directors  was  formed,  which  com- 
prised many  names  of  historical  repute  :  the  Dukes  of 
Newcastle,  Portland,  and  Queensbury  ;  the  Earls  of  Bur- 
lington, Stair,  and  Waldegrave ;  Lords  Bingley,  Stan- 
hope, etc.  In  1726,  the  committee  of  direction  selected 
for  the  year  included  the  Dukes  of  Richmond  and  of 
Manchester ;  the  Marquis  of  Carnarvon  ;  the  Earls  of 
Albemarle,  Burlington,  and  Chesterlield  ;  and  the  Lord 
Mayor  of  London,  etc.  George  the  First  (himself  a 
subscriber  to  the  amount  of  £lOOO)  permitted  the  society 
to  assume  the  name  of  the  Royal  Academy  of  Music. 
The  assistance  of  Handel  was  then  sought  for,  and  the 
consent  of  the  Maecenas  of  Cannons  was  easily  obtained. 
Handel  undertook  the  task  of  collecting  Italian  singers 
from  abroad,  and  he  brought  together  a  company,  among 


ROYAL    ACADEMY     OF    MUSIC.  76 

whom  may  bo  distinguished  Signora  Durastanti.  This 
songstress,  who,  as  well  as  Senesino,  was  taken  from  tlie 
Dresden  theater,  acquired  great  favor  at  court.  The 
JEve)iuig  Post^  on  the  7th  of  March,  1721,  reports: — 
"  Last  Thursday,  his  majesty  was  pleased  to  stand  god- 
flitlier,  and  the  princess  and  Lady  Bruce  god-mothers  to 
a  daugliter  of  Mrs.  Durastanti,  chief  singer  in  the  opera- 
house.  The  Marquis  Visconti  for  the  king,  and  the  Lady 
Litchfield  for  the  princOvSS." 

Francesco  Bernardi,  commonly  called  Senesino  (be- 
cause he  was  from  Sienna),  was  also  engaged.  Ajiplehee's 
Original  Weekly  Journal  for  the  31st  of  December, 
*  1720,  announces  that  "  Signor  Senesino,  the  famous 
Italian  eunuch,  has  anived,  and  'tis  said  that  the  com- 
pany allows  him  t^\'o  thousand  guineas  for  the  season." 
The  Royal  Academy  of  Music  also  brought  over  two 
celebrated  composers,  Ariosti  Attilio  from  Berlin,  and 
Bononcini  from  Rome,  where  he  had  lately  produced  the 
opera  of  Astarto  with  much  success.  It  is  inaccurate  to 
state  that  they  were  in  London  before  this  ej)och.  Fi- 
nally, the  Academy  obtained  an  Italian  poet,  Rolli  (who 
must  not  be  confounded  with  Rossi),  to  wi-ite  the  libret- 
tos. Antonio  Rolli,  in  signing  Muzio  Scmvola^  called 
himself  "Italian  Secretary  of  the  Academy."  It  is 
evident  therefore,  that  the  enterprise  was  arranged  upon 
a  splendid  scale;  but,  nevertheless,  an  advertisement  of 
the  25th  of  November,  1721,  shows  that  the  ordinary 
prices  of  admission  were  moderate  enough,  and  that  at 
that  time  they  had  the  idea  of  annual  subscriptions: — 
"  Application  having  been  made  to  the  Royal  Academy 
of  Music  for  tickets,  entitling  the  bearers  to  the  liberty 
of  the  house  for  the  ensuing  season,  the  Academy  agree 
to  give  out  tickets  to  such  as  shall  subscribe  on  the  con- 
ditions following,  viz.,  that  each  subscriber  on  the  de- 
livery of  his  ticket,  pay  ten  guineas;  that  on  the  1st  of 
February  next  ensuing  each  subscriber  pay  a  further  sum 
of  live  guineas,  and  likewise  five  guineas  more  on  the 


76  L  I  F  E    O  F     11  A  N  D  E  L  . 

first  of  May  following.  And  Avliereas  the  Academy  pro- 
pose acting  fifty  operas  this  season,  they  oblige  them- 
selves to  allow  a  deduction  propoitionably,  in  case  fewer 
operas  be  performed  than  that  number."*  The  fifty 
operas  are  the  invention  of  the  wretched  journalism  of 
the  period.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  fifty  represen- 
tations were  intended ;  which  would  be  about  two  per- 
formances weekly,  during  a  season  of  six  months,  the 
theater  opening  on  Wednesdays  and  Saturdays. 

The  French  comedians  remained  in  England  a  long 
time,  and  apparently  not  without  exciting  the  jealousy 
of  the  native  actors.  In  a  letter  from  Aaron  Hill  to  the 
younger  Rich  (dated  the  9th  of  September,  1'721)  he 
says: — "I  suppose  you  know  that  the  Duke  of  Mon- 
tague and  I  have  agreed,  and  that  I  am  to  have  that 
house  half  the  week,  and  the  French  vermin  the  other 
half." 

The  Academy,  playing  alternately  with  the  vermin. 
commenced  its  season  in  the  Haymarket  on  the  2d  of 
April,  1720,  with  the  Numitor  of  Porta.f  The  Rada- 
mistas  of  Handel,  advertised  on  Wednesday,  the  25th 
of  April,  for  the  following  day,  was  postponed  mitil 
Thursday,  the  27th,  "  the  French  comedians  playing  on 
the  Thursday  by  particular  desire  of  several  ladies  of 
quality."J;  Main  waring  says : — "  If  persons  who  are  now 
living,  and  \vho  were  present  at  that  performance,  may 
be  credited,  the  applause  it  received  was  almost  as  ex- 
travagant as  his  Agrippina  had  excited;  the  crowTls 
and  tumults  of  the  house  at  Venice  were  hardly  equal 
to  those  at  London.  In  so  splendid  and  fashionable  an 
assembly  of  ladies  (to  the  excellence  of  their  taste  we 
must  impute  it),  there  was  no  shadow  of  form  or  cere- 
mony, scarce  indeed  any  appearance  of  order  or  regu- 
larity, politeness,  or  decency.  Many,  who  had  forced 
their  way  into  the  house  with  an  impetuosity  but  ill- 
suited  to  their  rank  and  sex,  actually  fainted  through  the 

*  Burney.  t  Dalhj  Courant.  %  Ditto. 


"RADAM  ISTITS."  77 

heat  and  closeness  of  it.  Several  gentlemen  were  turned 
back,  who  had  offered  forty  shillings  for  a  seat  in  the 
gallery,  after  having  despaired  of  getting  any  in  the  pit 
or  boxes !" 

Hawkins  says : — "  Mr.  Handel  looked  upon  the  two 
airs  '  Cara  sposa,'  in  Binaldo^  and  '  Ombra  cai-a,'  in  liad- 
amlsto^  as  the  two  finest  he  ever  made,  and  he  declared 
this  his  opinion  to  the  author  of  this  work." 

The  first  season  of  the  Royal  Academy  of  Music  fin- 
ished on  the  25th  of  June,  1720,  and  the  second  began 
on  the  1 9th  of  N'ovember  following,  with  a  new  Italian 
company.  Senesino  made  his  first  appearance  hi  the 
Astartus  of  Bononcini  (who  had  then  arrived),  and  after- 
ward appeared  in  the  revival  of  jRadcmiisto,  in  December. 

The  I'ost  JBoy^  of  the  9th  of  July,  1720,  contains  the 
following  advertisement: — "This  is  to  give  notice  to  all 
gentlemen  and  ladies,  lovers  of  musick,  that  the  most 
celebrated  new  opera  of  RadamUtus^  composed  by  Mr. 
Handell,  is  now  engraving  finely  upon  copper-plates,  by 
Richard  Meares,  musical  instrument  maker  and  music 
printer  at  the  Golden  Yiol.  To  make  this  work  more 
acceptable,  the  author  has  been  prevailed  upon  to  cor- 
rect the  whole." 

And  on  the  1st  of  December,  the  following  advertise- 
ment appeared  : — 

"  On  Thursday,  the  loth  inst.,  will  be  published  (with 
his  majesty's  royal  privilege  and  license)  the  opera  of 
Hadamistus^  composed  by  Mr.  Handel ;  the  elegancies 
of  which,  and  the  abilities  of  its  author,  are  too  Avell 
known  by  the  musical  part  of  the  world  to  need  a  recom- 
mendation, unless  it  be  by  informing  them  that  there 
hath  been  such  due  care  taken  in  the  printing  of  it 
(which  consists  of  124  large  folio  copper-plates,  all  coi-- 
reeted  by  the  author),  that  the  printer  presumes  to  assert 
that  there  hath  not  been  in  Europe  a  piece  of  music  so 
well  printed,  and  upon  so  good  paper.  Published  by  the 
author." 


18  LIFE    OP     HANDEL. 

The  phrase  is  perhaps  rather  lengthy,  bat  it  does  not 
exaggerate  tlie  truth.  With  the  exception  of  the  book 
of  /Suites  de  Pieces  ijoilv  le  Clavecin^  from  the  press 
of  Chier,  there  is  nothing  of  that  epoch  superior  to  this 
publication.  Good  working  engravers  were  still  ex- 
cessively rare,  and  the  printing  of  music  was  deplorably 
bad. 

There  is  a  book  of  Arie  Aggiunte  al  Madamisto 
("  Additional  Airs  to  Radamisto"),  which  were  com- 
posed in  honor  of  the  new  company.  The  part  of  Tiri- 
date,  Avhich  had  been  originally  written  for  a  tenor,  was 
then  given  to  Boschi,  a  basso ;  and  this  is  why  the  airs 
of  Tiridate  are  for  a  tenor  in  the  original  edition,  and  for 
a  basso  in  the  Arie  Aggiunte.  These  editions  are  to  be 
found  in  the  opera-book  of  1720,  and  some  of  them  are 
indicated  by  a  star.  Meares  published  this  third  adver- 
tisement in  the  Post  Boy  of  the  18th  of  March,  1721  : 
— "  The  celebrated  opera  of  Padamisto^  printed  upon  a 
fine  Dutch  paper,  and  the  best  and  most  correct  piece  of 
music  extant.  And  whereas,  Mr.  Handel  has  composed 
several  additional  songs  to  make  the  said  work  more 
obliging,  they  are  now  finished  and  will  be  published  this 
day,  the  edition  containing  forty-one  copper-plates  en- 
graven by  the  same  hand.  Such  gentlemen  and  ladies 
as  have  already  purchased  the  work  may  have  the  addi- 
tions gratis  at  the  place  above  mentioned." 

To  give  forty-one  pages  of  music  gratis,  when  they 
might  very  honestly  be  charged  for,  is  certainly  a  very 
liberal  proceeding.  Tlie  merit  of  this  is  due  to  Handel ; 
for  the  entire  edition  belonged  to  him.  It  is  inscribed, 
"  Published  by  the  Author,  at  Richard  Meares  and 
Christopher  Smith.*  Not  to  be  sold  anywhere  else  in 
England."      And   there   is   also    the   copy  of  a   patent 

*  Christopher  Smith,  the  elder  (as  has  been  already  stated),  followed 
Handel  to  London  in  1717.  Fi-om  this  notification  it  appears  probable 
tliat  he  had  established  a  music-shop.  It  is  true  that  the  name  of  Smith 
i?  common  in  England,  but  that  of  Christopher  is  more  rare. 


PIRATICAL    PUBLISHERS.  79 

granted  by  the  king,  and  dated  the  14th  of  June,  1720, 
''reserving  to  the  autlior,  to  the  exclusion  of  all  others, 
the  right  of  printing  his  works  during  the  period  of 
fourteen  years."  Handel  had  seen  Walsh  publish  more 
or  less  incorrectly,  and  without  his  consent,  different 
pieces  of  IVater  Music  and  of  Theseus.  Therefore,  he 
attem})ted  to  protect  himself  in  this  manner  from  similar 
depredations ;  but  without  eflect.* 

Madamisto  is  dedicated  to  George  the  First  by  Han- 
del, who  signs  himself,  "  Your  faithful  servant  and  sub- 
ject." Burney  concludes  from  this  that  the  Saxon 
musician  had  become  naturalized.  His  conjecture  is, 
however,  in  advance  of  the  fact,  for  England  had  not  the 

*  It  does  not  appear  that  patents  offered  any  perioiis  protection  to 
literary  and  artistic  property ;  for  we  find  the  principal  music-sellers  of 
the  period  robbing  one  another  reciprocally,  and  the  transparence  of  the 
vail  with  which  they  concealed  their  thefts  is  a  sufficient  proof  that,  if 
they  preserved  their  anonymity,  no  remedy  was  exacted.  The  plates  of 
a  fraudulent  edition  of  Scipio^  by  Meares,  are  signed  by  Cross,  who  was 
notoriously  his  principal  working  engraver.  Clner  repeated,  over  and 
over  again,  that  he  was  the  sole  proprietor  of  Giidlo  Cesare,  at  the  very 
time  when  Walsh  was  printing  it  none  the  less  for  that,  and  without  any 
great  mystery.  The  latter  audaciously  set  at  the  foot  of  his  illegitimate 
edition  oi  Rodelinda.,  "  Sold  at  the  musick-shops,  where  may  be  had  the 
favorite  songs  in  Flavins,  Floridante.,  Artaxerxes,  Aquilo,''''  etc.,  all  which 
operas  belonged  to  him  exclusively.  Cluer  himself,  who  seems  to  have 
been  rather  more  scrupulous,  openly  advertises  (Eiius  and  jPorus,  to 
which  he  had  no  sort  of  right ;  and  Walsh,  who  was  the  owner  of  these 
two  works,  did  nothing  more  than  call  him  a  "  pirate."  If  the  l:uv  had 
well  supported  the  royal  prescription,  there  is  but  little  doubt  that  he 
would  not  have  been  contented  with  applying  to  others  an  epithet  which 
he  himself  so  well  deserved.  A  book  of  Judas  Maccahieus,  by  E.  John- 
son, offers  a  curious  example  of  this  gaerilla  warfare:  "This  edition  is 
correctly  printed  from  the  last  of  the  administrator  of  Mr.  Watts,  or  his 
assigns,  and  is  done  on  the  principle  of  lex  tallonis  •  for  as  he,  or  they, 
have  several  times  printed  Messiah,  which  E.  Johnson  has  a  property  in, 
and  he,  or  they,  have  none,  he  has  thought  it  perfectly  justifiable  to 
avail  himself  of  the  advantage  (which  yet  is  fur  from  being  adequate  to 
the  injury  he  has  received  by  tliat  means)  of  printing  Jadas.  His  prop- 
erty in  Me-tsiah  is  derived  from  the  compiler  of  It,  who  is  now  living,  and 
is  a  gentleman  of  a  very  respectable  character,  and  of  a  very  opulent 
fortune."  The  characteristic  addition  of  "  very  opulent"  would  sound 
in  the  present  day  like  a  superfluity;  for,  in  this  age  of  honest  nun,  opu- 
lence includes  every  grade  of  respectability. 


80  L  I  F  E     O  F     11  A  X  D  E  L  . 

honor  of  becoming  the  country  of  Handel  before  1726, 
when  a  private  Act  of  ParHainent  was  passed,  entitled, 
"  An  Act  for  Naturalizing  Louis  Sekehaye,  George  Fred- 
eric Handel,  and  others."* 

While  Handel  was  working  for  the  Royal  Academy  of 
Music,  he  had  not  quitted  the  mastership  of  the  chapel 
at  Whitchurch.  He  kept  that  mitil  1721.  It  was  for 
the  Duke  of  Chandos  that  he  composed  his  first  English 
oratorio.  Under  his  direction,  Humphreys  wrote  the 
poem  oi  JEsthei\  in  which  many  of  the  choruses  are  trans- 
lated from  Racine.  Esther  (for  wliich  the  duke  paid 
£lOOO)f  was  performed  for  himself  and  his  friends  on 
the  29th  of  August,  1720,  at  Cannons.J  Handel  wrote 
this  oratorio  with  a  view  of  making  known  a  sort  of 
music  of  which  they  had  not  yet  any  idea  in  England. 
It  w^as  not  intended  for  the  public.  The  score,  after 
having  been  performed  two  or  three  times,  was  put  on 
one  side,  and,  as  will  presently  be  seen,  only  reappeared 
at  a  later  period. 

Here  it  will  be  sufficient  to  note,  that  the  overture  of 
Esther^  almost  ever  since  it  was  composed,  has  been  so 
constantly  played  at  St.  Paul's,  at  the  Feast  of  the  Sons 
of  the  Clergy,  that  it  now  seems  in  a  peculiar  manner 
dedicated  to  the  service  of  the  church.§ 

Lest  this  magnificent  Duke  of  Chandos  should  be  de- 
prived of  any  of  his  honors,  at  once  let  it  be  stated  that 
it  was  for  him  also  that  Acis  and  Galateavf^'^  composed, 
and  was  performed  at  Cannons  in  1721.  The  pretty 
poem  for  this  English  serenata  is  by  Gay,  assisted  by  the 
other  literary  frequenters  of  the  mansion.  Here  may  be 
found  some  verses  by  Pope,  "  Not  showers  to  larks," 
and  a  strophe  by  Huglies,  "  Would  you  gain  the  tender 

*  See  "Gr;!nd  Handel  Musical  Festival,  at  tlie  Crystal  Palace,  in  1S57  : 
A  Letter  addressed  to  the  members,  subscribers,  and  assistants  of  the 
Sacred  Harmonic  Society,  October,  185G."  This  pamphlet,  which  is  by 
Mr.  Bowley,  the  treasurer  of  the  Society,  is  fail  of  interesting  facts. 

t  A  Journey  through  England. 

X  Eichard  Clark.  §  See  Appendix  E. 


M  E  :M  O  R  I  A  I. . 


81 


creature  ?"  nor  did  they  hesitate  to  take  "  Help,  Galatea, 
help,"  from  Dryden's  translation  of  the  thirteenth  book 
of  Ovid's  "  Metamorphoses."*  It  was  a  work  made,  as 
it  were,  for  amusement.  The  score,  like  that  of  Esther^ 
did  not  leave  Camions,  and  reappeared  only  when  a 
happy  accident  delivered  it  over  to  the  public.f 

*  Mr.  Bennett's  preface  to  the  edition  of  Acis^  published  by  the  Han- 
del Society. 

t  Of  the  splendid  residence,  wherein  the  Duke  of  Chaudos  gave  these 
magnificent  "feasts  of  reason,"  nothing  is  now  left  but  Whitchurch, 
the  chapel  which  was  constructed  apart  from  the  mansion.  This  has 
now  become  the  parish  church  of  the  village  of  Edgeware,  and  is  at 
present  in  a  very  poor  condition.  But  it  was  never  very  beautiful.  The 
fresco  paintings,  which  adorn  the  principal  pew,  are  of  a  very  inferior 
order,  as  also  are  the  paintings  which  decorate  either  side  of  the  com- 
munion-table. The  most  interesting  relic  in  the  place  is  an  organ,  of 
moderate  size,  which  stands  behind  the  altar ;  upon  this  may  be  found 
a  little  brass-plate,  bearing  this  inscription  : 


HANDEL   WAS   ORGANIST   OF   THIS   CHURCH 

FROM   THE   YEAR  1718    TO    1721,  AND 

COMPOSED      THE      ORATORIO      OF     ESTHER 

ON     THIS     ORGAN. 


For  this  memorial  of  him  we  are  indebted  to  Julius  Plumer,  an  inhab- 
itant of  the  Edgeware  Eoad,  who  caused  it  to  be  placed  there  in  1750. 
[Clark.]  What  he  intended  to  record  was,  that  the  sublime  musician 
played  upon  this  organ  at  the  time  when  Estlier  was  performed  at  Whit- 
church. When  I  visited  the  chapel,  this  venerable  instrument  had  been 
undergoing  repair  for  six  mouths. 

The  mansion,  which  had  cost  the  Duke  of  Chandos  £230,000  sterling, 
was  sold  for  £11,000  three  years  after  his  death,  in  1747.  Not  a  vestige 
of  it  is  left,  and  as  the  site  is  now  in  a  state  of  cultivation,  Pope's  pre- 
diction is  realized  : 

"  Another  age  shall  see  the  golden  ear 
Imbrown  the  slope,  and  nod  on  the  parterre, 
Deep  harvests  bury  all  his  pride  has  planned, 
And  laughing  Ceres  reassurae  the  laud." 

Es^ay—''  Of  The  Use  of  BicheaP 

The  magnificent  duke  himself  is  now  almost  forgotten.    A  marble 
statue,  which  was  erected  to  his  memory  in  the  crypt  of  the  chapel,  is 
4* 


82  LIFE     OP     HANDEL. 

The  manner  of  life  in  the  house  of  the  ao^reeable  and 
wealthy  Chandos,  in  the  company  of  such  men  as  Pope 
and  Gay,  and  other  visitors  of  a  similar  stamp,  had  a 
charm  for  the  spriglitly  and  original  Handel,  and  greatly 
excited  the  powers  of  his  fancy.  As  is  the  case  with  all 
ardent  minds,  the  more  he  had  to  do,  the  more  he  could 
do  ;  he  was  delighted  with  the  accumulation  of  labor. 
The  year  1720  was  a  very  busy  one  for  him.  He  di- 
rected the  chapel  at  Cannons,  he  gave  lessons  on  the 
harpsichord  to  the  daughters  of  the  Prince  of  Wales,  he 
opened  the  theater  of  the  Royal  Academy  of  Music,  he 

now  in  the  last  state  of  dilapidation.  The  wind  whistles  through  the 
broken  windows  of  its  funereal  abode,  and  the  plaster  of  the  roof,  de- 
tached from  its  skeleton  of  laths,  powdei's  his  enormous  wig,  and  soils 
the  imperial  robe  that  drapes  his  shoulders.  But  the  spirit  of  the  mas- 
ter of  Cannons  may  console  itself;  for  in  the  verses  of  the  poets  are 
monuments  of  infinitely  greater  durability  than  marble.  And  has  not 
Pope  sung : — 

"True,  some  are  open,  and  to  all  men  known  ; 
Othera  so  very  close,  they're  hid  from  none  ; 
(So  darkness  strikes  the  sense  no  less  than  light) ; 
Thus  gracious  Chaxdos  is  beloved  at  sight." 

Essay — '^  Of  the  Knowledge  and  Characters  of  Men?'' 

On  either  side  of  the  statue  stand  two  long  figures,  clothed,  like  it,  iu 
Roman  costume.  These  are  the  first  two  wives  of  the  duke.  But  he 
married  a  third  wife,  who  has  not,  however,  been  permitted  to  enter  the 
sanctuary. 

The  story  of  this  third  marriage  is  worth  relating,  and  may  entertain 
the  reader  for  a  moment.  The  substance  of  it  is  taken  from  Miss  Spence's 
novel,  Hoio  to  he  Rid  of  a  Wife. 

One  day,  the  duke  being  on  a  journey,  he  saw,  at  the  door  of  an  inn 
at  which  the  horses  were  changed,  a  groom  beating  a  young  servant-girl 
with  a  horsewhip.  Taking  pity  on  the  poor  girl,  the  duke  went  to  inter- 
pose between  them,  when  he  was  informed  that  the  groom  and  the  girl 
were  married.  This  being  the  case,  nothing  could  be  said  ;  for  the  law 
of  England  at  that  time  permitted  husbands  to  beat  their  better  halve.-> 
to  any  excess  short  of  death.  The  groom,  who  had  noticed  the  move- 
ment of  the  duke,  came  up  and  ofi"ered  to  sell  him  his  wife  if  he  would 
buy  her,  and,  in  order  to  save  her  from  further  punishment,  he  did  so. 
But  when  the  bargain  was  concluded,  the  duke  did  not  know  what  to  do 
with  his  new  acquisition,  and  so  he  sent  her  to  school.  Soon  after  this 
the  Duchess  of  Chandos  died,  and  the  duke  took  it  into  his  head  that  he 


BUYING     A     WIFE.  83 

produccfl  Radamisto  in  London,  l^sther  at  Cannons, 
and,  finally,  lie  pnblished  his  first  work  of  instinmrntal 
music,  Slates  de  Pieces  pour  le  Clavecin^  "svliich  lie  com- 
posed (it  is  said)  for  his  favorite  pupil,  the  I^rincess 
Anne. 

On  the  2d  of  November,  1720,  the  Daily  Courant 
announces  "  Lessons  for  the  Harpsichord^  by  Mi-.  Han- 
del," as  beino'  about  to  ai)pear  on  the  14th  of  that 
month.  On  the  9th  it  is  added,  "The  author  has  been 
obliged  to  publish  those  pieces  to  prevent  the  publick 
being  imposed  upon  by  some  surreptitious  and  incorrect 
copies  of  some  of  them  that  have  got  abroad."     On  the 

would  uian-y  his  purcliase  ;  so  that  eventually  the  poor  servant-girl, 
■whom  a  groom  had  beaten  by  the  roadside  before  every  passer-by,  be- 
came Duchess  of  Chandos,  and  comported  herself  in  her  new  rank  with 
perfect  dignity  ;  for,  thanks  to  their  exquisite  tact,  which  is  so  superior 
to  that  of  men,  women  are  able  to  mount  tlie  social  scale  with  marvelous 
fjicility,  and  it  is  seldom  that  they  do  not  easily  throw  off  all  traces  of  an 
inferior  origin. 

As  for  the  statement  about  the  right  to  beat  his  wife,  which  the  first 
husband  of  the  duchess  assumed,  it  lias  not  been  lightly  made.  Black- 
stone  says — "  The  husband,  by  the  old  lav/,  might  give  his  wife  moder- 
ate correction."  Some  lawyers  have  doubted  this,  for  Great  Britain  does 
not  possess  a  fixed  code  ;  but  the  husbands  have  never  been  of  their 
opinion.  It  was  only  in  1853  that  the  law  invested  police  magistrates 
with  the  power  of  punishing  such  ignoble  cruelty  with  six  months'  im- 
prisonment. Almost  daily  they  find  it  necessary  to  pronounce  sentence 
upon  this  crime  ;  and  yet,  in  spite  of  their  honorable  zeal  to  abolish  such 
barbarity,  the  ignorant  classes  are  ?;>  saturated  Tvith  "  the  old  law"  and 
its  ancient  privileges,  that  the  great  er  number  of  the  criminals  are  actu- 
ally astonished  when  they  are  visited  with  punishment ! 

But  had  the  groom  any  right  to  sell  his  wife  ?  Legally  speaking,  no  ; 
but  according  to  immemorial  custom,  of  which  many  examples  may  be 
found,  yes.  Not  a  single  case  is  on  record  in  which  the  perpetrators  of 
these  monstrous  sulcr^  have  been  prosecuted.  Miss  Spence  relates  tlie 
sale  simply,  without  the  slightest  comment,  and  as  a  fact  which  speaks 
for  itself.  If,  in  such  a  case,  the  purchtLsed  wife  married  her  purchaser, 
legally  speaking  she  became  a  bigamist ;  but  v/hoever  thought  of  calling 
her  so  would  liave  been  laughed  at.  History  relates  that,  in  order  to 
spare  the  purchaser  of  his  wife  any  trouble  in  the  matter,  the  groom 
killed  himself  by  drinking  away  the  purchase-money.  The  third  Duch- 
ess of  Chandos  was,  therefore,  as  legitimately  so  as  possible ;  but,  never- 
theless, the  family  would  not  permit  her  remains  to  be  laid  within  the 
ducal  tomb. 


84  L  I  F  E     O  F     II  A  X  D  E  L  . 

14tli,  another  advertisement  makes  known  that  copies 
are  for  sale  at  tlie  price  of  one  guinea.* 

In  a  very  short  time,  tlie  Suites  cle  Pieces  pour  le 
Clavecin  acquired  a  reputation  literally  universal.  They 
were  reprinted  in  France,  in  Switzerland,  in  Holland, 
and  in  Germany.  In  spite  of  this,  however,  the  author 
did  not  publish  any  more  immediately  ;  for  the  second 
collection,  which,  is  generally  supposed  to  be  of  the  same 
epoch  as  the  fii-st,  Avas  published  by  AYalsh  only  in  1733. 
Incontestible  proof  of  this  will  be  furnished  in  the 
"  Catalogue  ;"  but  it  is  quite  certain  that  between  the 
two  collections  there  was  an  interval  of  thirteen  years. 
This  explains  the  difference  of  musical  merit  which  has 
been  already  observed,  and  which  was  inexplicable  so 
long  as  they  were  supposed  to  have  been  twins.  The 
second  collection  is  not  equal  to  the  first.  It  is  quite 
worthy  of  Handel.  The  two  chacones,  the  one  with 
eighteen  and  the  other  with  sixty-two  variations,  are  ad- 
mirable ;  but  the  entire  work  is  not  one  of  those  special 
creations,  perfectly  labored  and  finished  throughout  con 

*  It  is  somewhat  reraarki'ble  that  a  number  of  collections  for  the 
harpsichord  were  published  at  that  time  with  French  titles.  Bach  issued 
one  in  Germany,  entitled  Suites  Anglaises  four  le  Clavecin.  Although 
called  in  the  journals  Lessons  for  the  Uarpsichord^  Handel's  volume  was 
printed  by  Cluer,  under  the  French  title,  of  doubtful  correctness,  Suites 
de  Pieces  pour  le  Clacecin.  On  the  first  page  may  be  found  the  following 
note : 

"I  have  been  obliged  to  publish  some  of  the  following  lessons,  be- 
cause surreptitious  and  incorrect  copies  of  them  had  got  abroad.  I  have 
added  several  new  ones  to  make  the  work  more  useful,  which,  if  it 
meets  with  a  favorable  reception,  I  will  still  proceed  to  publish  more, 
reckoning  it  my  duty,  with  my  small  talent,  to  serve  a  nation  from  which 
I  have  received  so  generous  a  protection. 

"  G.  F.  HandxL." 

I  attended  in  London  the  excellent  lectures  of  Mr.  Salamon,  on  all 
kinds  of  stringed  instruments,  from  the  psaltery  to  the  piano.  The  pro- 
fessor had  occasion  to  read  this  very  note,  in  which  the  composer  speaks 
in  the  first  person,  and  when  he  came  to  the  words,  "my  small  talent," 
a  movejnent  of  emotion  was  percejjtible  among  the  audience,  and  he 
could  scarcely  finish  the  sentence  before  there  was  a  general  clapping  of 
bands,  as  if  the  great  man  himsnlf  were  present. 


THE     H  A  R  :\I  O  X  I  O  U  S     K  L  A  C  K  S  M  I  T  H  .  85 

amore.  There  are  thi'ee  indifFerent  pieces,  written 
doubtless  at  the  instance  of  Walsh,  who  expected  a  cer- 
tain sale  in  this  continuation  of  a  series  which  had  be- 
come permanently  established  on  every  harpsichord  in 
Europe.  The  companion-pieces  of  successful  works  are 
almost  invariably  pit-falls ;  for  the  virgin  inspiration,  the 
great  virtue  of  Art,  is  mostly  wanting  in  those  things 
made  to  order. 

Among  tlie  "  Suites"  of  the  lirst  collection,  there  is 
one  delicious  piece,  to  which  a  curious  tradition  is  at- 
tached. One  day  as  he  was  going  to  Cannons,  the 
chapel-master  was  overtaken  by  a  shower,  in  the  midst 
of  tile  village  of  Edgeware,  and  took  shelter  in  the  house 
of  one  Powell,  mIio  was  a  blacksmith,  as  well  as  parish 
clerk  of  Whitchurch.  After  the  usual  salutations,  Powell 
fell  to  work  airain  at  his  forcce,  sinixina:  an  old  sons:  the 
while.  By  an  extraordinary  phenomenon,  the  hammer 
striking  in  time,  drew  from  the  anvil  two  harmonic  sounds, 
which,  being  in  accord  with  the  melody,  made  a  sort  of 
continuous  bass.  Handel  was  struck  by  the  incident, 
listened,  remembered  the  air  and  its  strange  accom})ani- 
ment,  and,  when  he  returned  home,  composed  out  of  it 
a  piece  for  the  harpsichord.  This  is  the  piece  which  has 
been  published  separately  a  thousand  times  under  the 
title  of  The  llarmonious  JBlaclzsmitli.  This  title  is 
relatively  modern.  Handel  himself  never  made  use  of 
it,  and  it  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  original  copy.  Mr. 
Richard  Clark,  who  claims  to  have  discovered  Powell's 
anvil,*  does  not  produce  any  authority  in  su})]jort  of  the 
tradition.  He  only  states  that  Dr.  Crotch  informed  him 
that,  when  he  was  at  Cambridge  with  Dr.  Hague,  he 
saw  in  a  book  the  melody  of  The  Harmonious  JBlach- 
synith^  with  the  name  of  Wagenseil  as  composer.  But 
this  is  very  vague.  The  doctor  ought,  at  any  rate,  to 
have  taken  the  trouble  of  giving  us  some  information  as 
to  the  date  and  title  of  that  book.  There  is  another 
*  Bem'mUcences  of  Handel. 


86  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

tradition,  wliicli  would  make  it  appear  that  this  unknown 
Wagenseil  liad  nothing  to  do  with  the  business.  It  is  to 
the  eflect  thatPIandel,  taking  slielter  at  the  blacksmith's, 
listened  to  the  unison  of  his  hammer  with  the  cluirch 
bell,  which  was  ringing  at  the  time,  and  that  the  cele- 
brated piece  was  the  result  of  the  inspii-ation  thus  pro- 
duced. However  that  may  be,  the  popularity  of  The 
Ilarmonions  Blacksmith  is  not  yet  extinct ;  after  an 
existence  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-six  years,  it  is  con- 
tinually being  reprinted,  and  it  will  be  reprinted  so  long 
as  the  human  race  is  sensible  to  music.  It  has  been  ar- 
ranged for  the  orchesti-a,  and  was  performed  in  this  man- 
ner by  the  Academy  of  Ancient  Music*  The  name  of 
Powell  will  descend,  therefore,  to  the  most  remote 
posterity,  merely  because  Handel  took  shelter  in  his 
workshop  for  a  quarter  of  an  houi*.  At  the  time  when  I 
made  a  pilgrimage  to  Edge  ware,  a  sort  of  square  shed, 
standing  alone  in  the  middle  of  the  great  street,  was 
shown  to  me  as  being  the  veritable  forge  used  by  Pow- 
ell.t 

*  This  Academy,  which  was  founded  in  1710  (Hawkins),  is  now  extinct. 
This  is  to  be  regretted,  for  it  was  an  excellent  private  institution,  which 
contributed,  in  an  important  degree,  to  the  establishment  of  a  taste  for 
good  music  in  England. 

t  This  incident  of  a  journey  to  Cannons  recalls  to  mind,  that  the 
visits  which  the  organist  of  Whitchurch  paid  to  that  mansion  were  not 
unattended  by  danger.  The  state  of  the  high-roads  at  that  time,  even  in 
the  vicinity  of  London,  rendered  it  frequently  necessary  for  travelers  to 
defend  theiiiselves.  Mr.  Richard  Clark  found  the  two  following  para- 
graphs, the  former  in  the  Weekly  Journal^  or  Saturday's  Post,  and  the 
latter  in  the  Weekly  Journal,  or  BritlsTi  Gazettler : — "  On  Monday,  Feb- 
ruary 6th,  1720,  as  the  Duke  of  Chandos  was  riding  to  his  beautiful 
house  at  Edgware,  and  being  before  his  retinue  some  distance,  two  high- 
waymen came  up,  and  bid  him  deliver  his  money ;  but  his  servants 
coming  in  view,  fired  their  pistols,  as  did  the  highwaymen,  but  neither 
hurt  or  killed.  One  of  the  highwaymen  quitted  his  horse,  and  jumped 
over  the  hedge,  and  was  followed  by  one  of  the  Duke's  servants,  Avho 
knocked  him  down  and  took  him  ;  the  other  was  pursued  to  Tyburn  and 
there  taken.  Both  committed  to  Newgate."  "  Tuesday,  February  7th, 
1720. — Tlie  post-boys  were  set  upon  in  Tyburn  Eoad  by  three  highway- 
men.   His  Grace  the  Duke  of  Chandos  comiiig  up,  ordered  his  servants 


THE    THREE    COM  POSE  US.  87 

It  has  been  already  stated  that  the  Royal  Academy 
of  Music  attracted  Bonoiicini  and  Attilio  to  London. 
Wliether  it  was  for  the  purpose  of  exciting  curiosity,  by 
putting  the  two  Italians  and  tlie  German  in  comparison 
with  each  other,  or  whetlier  the  poem  was  divided  be- 
tween them  for  the  purpose  of  accelerating  the  work, 
and  because  it  was  necessary  to  produce  some  novelty, 
it  is  certain  that  Muzio  Sccevola^  which  was  produced  on 
the  15th  of  April,  1721,  was  collaborated  by  the  three 
composers.  All  the  biographers  agree  in  treating  it  as  a 
sort  of  competition,  in  which  the  conquered  were  thence- 
forth to  give  way  to  the  conqueror  ;  and  in  stating  that 
Bononcini  and  Attilio  were  dismissed.  Tiiis,  however,  is 
not  true,  although  Mainwaring  was  the  first  to  advance 
it.  These  two  composers  were  luxuries  (so  to  speak)  in 
the  establishment  of  the  Academy,  and  they  continued 
to  write  for  it  up  to  the  period  of  its  dissolution.*  The 
Flying  Post  announces,  in  February,  1727,  that  "the 
directors  of  the  R.  A.  of  Musick  have  resolved  that 
after  the  excellent  opera  of  Mr.  Handel,  which  is  now 
performing,  Signor  Attilio  shall  compose  one ;  and  Sig- 
nor  Bononcini  is  to  compose  the  next  after  that.  Thus, 
as  the  tlieater  can  boast  of  the  three  best  voices  in 
Europe,  and  the  best  instruments,  so  the  town  will  have 

to  attack  tliem,  which  they  did  so  bravely,  that  they  killed  one  and  took 
the  other  two,  who  impeached  ten  more  of  the  gang."i  But  when  a  man 
was  without  such  a  retinue  as  his  grace  had,  it  could  scarcely  have  been 
considered  in  the  light  of  a  party  of  pleasure  to  travel  along  a  road  so 
infested.  But  the  hero  of  the  duel  with  Matthesou  was  not  wanting  in 
any  kind  of  courage. 

*  Bononcini  produced  Astarto  at  London  in  November,  1720  ;  Crispo 
and  Griselda  (which  is  regarded  as  his  masterpiece)  in  January  and 
February,  1722 ;  Erminia  and  Farnace  (unedited)  in  March  and  Novem- 
ber, 1723  ;  Calfurnia  in  April,  1724;  and  Astyanax  in  May,  1727.  Attilio 
produced  Giro  (unedited),  in  May,  1721,  Coriolano  in  February,  1723  ; 
Vespasiano  (unedited),  and  Artaxerxes  in  January  and  December,  1724 ; 
Dario  (unedited)  in  April,  1725  ;  and  Lucio  Vero  in  January,  1727. 


1   Reminiscences  of  Handel. 


88  LIFE     OF     HA  X  DEL. 

the  pleasure  of  liearing  tliese  three  diiferent  styles  of 
composing."* 

Up  to  a  certain  point,  Bononcini  was  able  to  sustain 
tlie  rivalry  which  is  attributed  to  him;  but  as  for  Attilio, 
who  was  gifted  with  agreeable  but  not  very  powerful 
faculties,  he  could  never  asj^ire,  nor  did  he  aspire,  to  any 
such  competition.  Ariosti  Attilio  (who  was  a  Dominican 
monk,  exeinpted  from  all  the  duties  of  his  condition  be- 
cause he  was  supposed  to  be  a  genius)  crosses  the  path 
of  Handel's  life  like  a  melancholy  shade.  Already  we 
have  seen  him  at  Berlin  take  the  young  virtuoso  of  Halle 
on  his  knee,  and  delighting  himself  with  listening  to  him 
for  whole  hours.  At  London  he  produced  his  works 
quietly  and  without  intrigue,  never  mixing  himself  up 
with  the  violent  contests  which  agitated  the  musical 
world.  In  1*730  he  lapsed  into  silence  and  poverty,  not 
even  knowing  how  to  get  any  advantage  from  his  talent 
upon  the  viol  cPmnoiu\  which  he  introduced  into  En- 
gland in  1716,  during  a  short  visit  at  that  period.  A 
mild,  timid,  and  inoffensive  man,  and  as  graceful  as  a 
woman,  he  was  crushed  to  nothingness  between  the 
colossal  Handel  and  the  arrogant  Bononcini. 

It  was  the  latter  who  composed  the  second  act  of 
Muzio  Sccevola^  and  Attilio  the  fii-st ;  but  the  third  (which 
was  composed  by  Handel)  generally  obtained  the  prefer- 
ence. The  critics  were  reduced  to  accuse  it  of  incor- 
rectness. In  the  overture  added  to  this  act,  Handel 
made  use  of  a  semitone,  which  the  j^edants  declared  to 
be  an  unpardonable  license.  "Be  it  so,"  said  Geminiani, 
"  but  such  a  semitone  is  worth  a  world. "f| 

*  Quoted  by  Malcolm,  page  342  of  the  quarto  edition,  and  page  167, 
vol.  ii.,  of  the  edition  of  1810. 

t  "  Ma  qual  semitono  vale  un  mondo." 

X  Dr.  William  Crotch,  who  edited  the  Coronation  AniJiems  for  the  Han- 
del Society,  declares  that  "several  violations  of  the  rules  of  musical 
grammar,  as  consecutive  fifths  and  octaves,  have  been  suffered  to  remain 
as  not  appearing  to  be  accidental  oversights.  The  pupil  of  Sackau  was 
a  very  learned  musician,  and  knew  better  than  any  one  the  grammar  of 


OPPOSITION.  89 

The  victory  gained  by  Handel  over  tlie  two  rivals  who 
were  opposed  to  him  only  served,  as  is  usual  in  such 
cases,  to  excite  all  the  more  vehemently  the  cabal  which 
was  arising  among  a  party  of  the  English  nobility  against 
him  and  in  favor  of  Bononcini.  The  chapel-master  of 
Cannons  was  not  much  of  a  courtier.  Jealous  of  his  in- 
dependence, proud,  and  always  dignified,  many  noble 
lords  fliiled  to  obtain  from  him  the  submission  which 
they  required.  The  wit  of  the  party  which  created  this 
rivalry  continued  to  keep  it  alive.  Swift,  who  admired 
nothing,  and  who  had  no  ear,  wn-ote  an  ei)igram  upon 
the  subject,  which  was  set  as  "  a  cheerful  glee  for  four 
voices :" 

"  Some  say  that  Signer  Bononcini, 
Compared  to  Handel,  is  a  ninny  ; 
Whilst  others  say,  that  to  him,  Handel 
Is  hardly  fit  to  hold  a  candle. 
Strange  that  such  difference  should  be 
'  Twixt  Tweedledum  and  Tweedledee." 

Tlie  angry  injustice  of  the  nobles  is  far  preferable  to 
the  injurious  and  empty  eclecticism  of  this  immaculate 
Dean  of  St.  Patrick.  Lycurgus  was  in  the  right  when 
he  banished  all  citizens  who  would  not  take  part  in  the 
civil  war,  for  neuters  are  always  fit  for  nothing. 

Bat  Handel  had  ardent  followers,  who  were  indignant 
at  seeing  his  supremacy  contested.  Henry  Carey  sang 
his  praise  in  the  following  verses  : 

"TO   ME.   GEOEGE  FEEDEEIC   HANDEL.* 
******** 
"  The  envy  and  the  wonder  of  mankind 
Must  terminate,  but  never  can  thy  lays ; 
For  when,  absorbed  in  elemental  flame, 
This  world  shall  vanish,  Music  will  exist. 

his  art;  but  he  deliberately  violated  it  when  he  found  any  advantage  in 
so  doing.  Men  of  genius  have  a  right  to  overlook  the  law,  and  for  a 
very  simple  reason  :  it  is  they  "who  make  the  law,  and  who  bring  it  to 
perfection.  If  they  invent  a  departure  from  a  rule,  that  departure  be- 
comes a  new  rule.  But  to  do  this,  genius  is  indispensable. 
*  Poems  on  Several  Occasions, 


90  LlFEOFHAXDt:L. 

Then  their  sweet  strains,  to  native  skies  returning, 
Shall  breathe  in  songs  of  seraphim  and  angels, 
Commixt  and  lost  in  harmony  eternal 
That  fills  all  heaven  !" 

On  the  9th  of  December,  1721,  Floridante  appeared. 
It  was  revived  on  tlie  3d  of  March,  1733.  Barney  sums 
up  an  analysis  of  this  opera  in  these  words:  "The  spirit, 
invention,  and  science  of  Handel  have  never  been  dis- 
puted ;  but  by  a  recent  examination  of  his  early  works, 
I  am  convinced  that  his  slow  airs  are  as  much  superior 
to  those  of  his  cotemporaries  as  the  others  in  spirit  and 
science." 

On  the  12th  of  January,  1723,  Otlio^  or  Ottone  ap- 
peared, which  Burney  selects  as  the  flower  of  the  com- 
poser's dramatic  works.  He  says  that  it  would  be  dif- 
ficult to  find  in  it  a  single  piece,  vocal  or  instrumental, 
w^hich  has  not  been  a  favorite  with  the  public.  Accord- 
ing to  Mainwaiing,  "an  eminent  master,  who  was  not  on 
good  terms  with  Handel,  said  of  '  Aftanni  del  pensier,' 
'  That  great  hear  was  certainly  inspired  when  he  wrote 
that  song:  "     Probably  Mainwaring  refers  to  Pepusch. 

It  was  in  Ottone  that  the  celebrated  Cuzzoni  made  her 
first  appearance.  Malcolm  says,  "  her  engagement  was 
at  the  enormous  salary  of  £2000  per  season,  presuming 
on  her  future  success.  Xor  were  the  managers  disap- 
pointed, for  tliey  were  enabled,  on  the  second  evening 
of  her  performance,  to  demand  four  guineas  for  each 
ticket."  Malcolm  has  also  preserved  the  following  quat- 
rain, which  was  written  on  the  morning  after  her  dchut^ 
and  which  he  designates  as  "excellent :" 

"If  Orpheus'  notes  could  woods  and  rocks  inspire, 
And  make  dull  rivers  listen  to  his  lyre ; 
Cutzoua's  voice  can,  with  for  greater  skill, 
Eouse  death  to  life,  and  what  is  living  kill." 

Ottone  was  revived  on  the  13th  of  Xovember,   1733.* 
The  poem  is  dedicated  by  the  author,  N.  Ilaym,  "All' 
Eccellenza  my  Lord  Conte  di  Halifax." 
*  Daily  Journal. 


ANECDOTE.  91 

The  season  of  1723  was  adorned  by  Giulio  Cesare^ 
and  by  Flavins^  wliich  Ilayni  dedicated  to  the  directors 
of  the  Royal  Academy  of  Music.  Instead  of  a  final 
chorus,  Flavins  contains  a  veritable  quintett,  "Doni 
pace  ;"  and  this  seems  to  be  the  first  scenic  quintett  that 
ever  was  composed.  A  revival  of  this  opera  was  at- 
tempted in  1732,  but  without  success.  Julias  Ccesar\  on 
the  other  hand,  sparkling  with  beauties,  often  reappeared 
upon  the  stage.  The  last  time  it  was  performed  was  in 
1787,  when  it  was  produced  for  the  purpose  of  attracting 
to  the  theater  poor  George  the  Third,  who  was  passion- 
ately fond  of  Handel's  music.  Since  that  time,  not  a 
single  opera  by  the  great  master  has  been  performed. 
In  Julius  Cmsar^  the  air  *'  Da  tempesta,"  and  the  ac- 
companied recitative,  "  Alma  d'el  gran  Pompeo,"  are 
still  celebrated.  Senesino  created  a  sensation  in  the 
recitative.  A  writer  in  the  London  Magazine  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1733,  relates  the  following  anecdote  of  him: 

"When  I  was  last  at  the  opera  oi  Julius  C(jesai\  from 
M'hich  I  took  the  hint  of  writing  this  paper,  a  piece  of  the 
machinery  tumbled  down  from  the  roof  of  the  theater 
upon  the  stage,  just  as  Senesino  had  chanted  forth  these 
words,  '  Cesare  non  seppe  mai,  che  sia  timore'  ('  Caesar 
does  not  know  what  fear  is').  The  poor  hero  Avas  so 
frightened  that  he  trembled,  lost  his  voice,  and  fell  cry- 
ing. Every  tyrant  or  tyrannical  minister  is  just  such  a 
Cresar  as  Senesino." 

But  none  the  less  for  that,  Senesino  sang  the  part  of 
the  fierce  Tamerlane,  in  the  opera  of  that  name,  per- 
formed in  1724;  the  overture  of  which  is  quoted  as  a 
masterpiece. 

In  Rodelinda^  which  followed  in  1725,  Signora  Cuz- 
zoni  had  so  much  success,  that  tlie  female  fashionable 
world  adopted  the  brown  silk  dress,  embroidei'ed  with 
silver,  which  she  wore  in  the  part.  Burney  says,  that 
*'  for  a  year  the  dress  seemed  a  national  uniform  for  youth 
and  beauty." 


92  LIFE    OF    HANDEL. 

For  a  long  time  afterward,  "  God  of  music,  charm  the 
charmer,"  was  sung  to  the  beautiful  air  from  Itodelinda^ 
"Dove  sei  amato  bene."  Preston  employed  it  for 
"  Hope,  thou  source  of  every  blessing,"  in  a  largo  vol- 
ume filled  with  similar  arrangements — The  Beauties  of 
Music  and  Poetry.  Arnold  stuck  into  it  his  pasticcio. 
The  Redemption^  as  "  Holy,  holy,  Lord  God  Almighty." 
In  spite  of  their  reverence  for  Handel,  the  English  will 
only  see  in  him  the  composer  of  sacred  music ;  and,  out- 
side of  a  certain  musical  sphei-e,  there  are  many  persons 
who  will  be  very  much  astonished  to  hear  that  Handel 
ever  wrote  an  opera.  They  will  go  to  the  theater  to 
listen  to  such  rubbish  ^'ri  lilgoletto^  but  no  manager  dares 
to  risk  sucli  works  as  Otho^  Admetus,  Alcina^  or  Julius 
Gmsar.  Meanwhile,  they  sing  with  admiration  the  re- 
ligious air  of  "Lord,  remember  David,"  which,  like  the 
"Holy,  holy^  Lord  God  Almighty,"  is,  after  all,  only  a 
secular  air  disguised — nothing  but  "  Rendi'l  sereno  al 
ciglio"  of  Sosarme  ;  "He  was  eyes  unto  the  blind,"  is 
made  out  of  "Non  vi  piacque"  of  Siroe ;  "He  was 
brought  as  a  lamb,"  of  "  Nel  riposo"  of  Deidaniia ; 
"  Turn  thee,  O  Lord,"  of  "  Verdi  prati,"  a  sublime  air  of 
Alcina ;  "  He  layeth  the  beams  of  his  chamber,"  of 
"  Nasci  al  bosco"  of  J^p:io  /  and  "  Bow  down  thine  ear, 
O  Lord,"  of  "Vieni,  o  figlio"  of  Otto?ie. 

I  have  only  cited  here  the  best  known  examples  of 
these  transmutations,  but  there  are  a  multitude  of  others, 
many  of  which  have  been  printed  over  and  over  again, 
while  the  original  airs  have  remained  buried  in  the  old 
editions  of  Walsh,  and  are  known  only  to  amateurs. 
The  Italian  repertoire  of  Handel  has  been  sanctified  (as 
it  were)  in  this  manner,  and  almost  always  fraudulently  ; 
that  is  to  say,  the  source  has  been  concealed.  The 
smallest  vice  in  tliese  pieces  of  scrap  work  is  to  render 
unnatural,  and  consequently  to  spoil  the  most  beautiful 
things  by  putting  them  into  dresses  which  were  never 
made  to  fit  them.     Xothino;  can  be  said  ao-ainst  a  trans- 


PERVEKSION    OF    MUSIC.  93 

lation  when  it  is  executed  with  ability,  and  preserves  the 
spirit  by  changing  only  the  words  of  the  original ;  but  to 
adapt  a  cavitina  of  the  theater  to  a  strophe  from  the  Bible 
is  almost  invariably  tantainount  to  an  entire  change  of  the 
composer's  idea,  since  there  is  no  analogy  in  the  senti- 
ments which  it  is  made  to  express.  Music  is  not  "  a 
horse  for  every  saddle,"  and  although  it  is  not  a  precise 
and  determined  language — although  it  can  frequently  ex- 
press diverse  ideas,  it  can  not  adapt  itself  indifferently 
to  evei-y  description  of  words.  It  is  known  that  Han- 
del himself  wrote  four  choruses  of  The  Messiah  out  of 
"  Chamber  Duets."  He  has  taken  a  phrase  of  a  chorus 
in  Acis^  "Behold  the  monster,"  in  which  the  expression 
of  fear  and  horror  is  admirable,  from  another  chamber 
duet,  of  which  the  sense  was  not  at  all  analogous.* 
"Let  old  Timotheus,"  oi Alexander'' s  Feast^  is  perfectly 
similar  to  the  first  part  of  the  chamber  trio,  "  Quel  fior 
che  al  alba  ride."  Many  similar  examples  might  be  quoted. 
But  although  an  air  which  has  been  composed  for  one  sub- 
ject may  sometimes  be  suitable  for  another,  such  is  not 
always  the  case.  Music  is  an  excessively  delicate  art ; 
it  is  the  most  sensitive  of  all  the  arts ;  the  slightest  mod- 
ification— even  the  alteration  of  a  note — is  perceptible; 
the  acceleration,  or  the  prolongation  of  the  time  often 
entirely  changes  the  character  of  a  song ;  and  it  is  the 
composer  only  who  has  a  right  to  effect  such  transform- 
ations, for  he  alone  can  judge  of  their  propriety.  There 
may  be  diflerent  ways  (and  all  excellent)  of  singing  the 
same  thing,  and  yet  all  possible  ways  may  not  be  good. 
There  are  a  hundred  thousand  plaintive  melodies  which 
will  very  well  express  I  iclsh  to  clie^  and  some  of  these 
may  be  very  Avell  applied  to  3fy  grief  is  great ,'  but 
some  of  them  would  not  agree  with  the  latter  phrase, 

*  In  the  chorus  of  Acis,  "Wretched  Lovers,"  the  phrase,  "Behold  the 
monster,  Polypheme,"  is  identically  taken  from  the  third  part  of  the 
Twelfth  of  the  Chamber  Duets,  published  by  Arnold,  at  the  words  "Da 
gl'  amori  flagellata." 


94  L  I  F  E     O  F     HANDEL, 

and  if  you  applied  them  to  I iclsli  to  dance^  the  result 
would  be  horribly  incongruous. 

The  acrobats  who  give  themselves  to  this  kind  of  trick 
are  still  more  culpable,  when  they  do  not  inform  the 
public  of  the  fact.  For  example,  in  the  "  Holy,  holy, 
Lord,"  which  is  usually  printed  as  "  by  Handel,"  the 
word  "  holy"  occurs  thirty-one  times  over.  But  it  never 
falls  together  oftener  than  twice,  although  the  text  in- 
vokes God  as  thrice  holy.  Surely  Handel  would  not 
have  been  so  prodigal  of  this  word,  and  he  would  not 
have  altered  the  biblical  text,  which  repeats  three  times, 
"  Holy !  holy !  holy  !"  He  knew  that  the  number  three 
was  a  sacred  number  in  the  Bible,  like  the  number  seven. 
Still  less  would  he  have  clothed  the  invocation  of  a  pray- 
ing people — "  Holy !  holy  !  holy  !  Lord  God  Almighty  !" 
with  the  accents  of  a  man  who  is  calling  upon  his  love, 
"Dove  sei  amato  bene,"  "  Where  art  thou,  my  beloved 
treasure  ?" 

And,  besides,  many  of  these  adapters  have  not  even 
respected  the  music  which  they  have  meddled  with. 
Corfe,  in  his  substitution  of  "  Turn  thee,  O  Lord  !"  for 
"  Verdi  prati,"  has  not  contented  himself  with  trans- 
forming the  Italian  air  into  a  duet,  but  he  has  found  it 
useful  to  change  ceitain  passages  of  it.  And  what  could 
be  worse  than  to  apply  a  melody  which  breathes  of 
"Green  meadows,  lovely  forest,"  to  "Turn  thee,  O 
Lord  ?"  Arnold  has,  indeed,  preserved  in  all  its  in- 
tegrity the  air  of  "  Verdi  prati,"  while  he  adapts  it  to 
"  Where  is  this  stupendous  Stranger  ?"  {Redemption)) 
But  it  is  easy  to  imagine  what  would  have  been  the 
anger  of  the  choleric  Handel,  if  he  could  have  heard  his 
ideas  about  green  fields  applied  to  any  stranger,  be  he 
ever  so  stupendous. 

Tiie  mania  for  putting  every  thing  into  their  prayers 
has  betrayed  the  English  into  some  most  unworthy  ac- 
tions. If  Handel  had  written  a  "Vive  I'amour!"  or  a 
"Here's  to  wine!"  they  would  have  made  a  canticle  of 


K  O  AV  L  A  N  D     H  I  L  L  .  95 

it.  In  IVGS,  they  bad  the  audacity  to  introduce  into 
Israel  in  Egypt  a  dozen  such  tilings  as  "  Great  Jehovah, 
all  adoring,"  fitted  to  the  music  of  "  Di  Cupido  impiego 
-'  vanni"  ("I  borrow  Cupid's  wings"),  from  Rodelinda ; 
thus  daring  to  set  Cupid's  quiver  upon  the  shoulders  of 
Omnipotence  itself — an  act  which  seems  to  me  monstrous, 
in  an  artistic  point  of  view,  and  I  am  astonished  that  the 
English,  generally  so  religious,  do  not  regard  it  as  posi- 
tively blasphemous. 

The  Reverend  Rowland  Hill,  when  he  was  reproached 
with  similar  practices,  wittily  rei)lied — "But  the  devil 
must  not  have  all  the  good  tunes."  A  man  of  wit  can 
always  extricate  himself  by  a  joke  ;  but  that  does  not 
satisfy  the  question  of  propriety,  and  it  is  astonishing 
that  churchmen  do  not  regard  this  more  seriously — for 
to  sing  a  psalm  to  an  air  taken  out  of  an  opera  seems 
like  decorating  the  altar  with  the  detested  rags  of  the 
theater,  or  dressing  up  a  bishop  in  the  costume  of  "  the 
comic  man." 

Even  those  who  have  inherited  Handel's  own  books 
have  left  in  them  traces  of  similar  proflmation.  Thus,  in 
the  copy  of  Deborah^  which  Handel  himself  used  for  a 
long  time,  and  which  contains  a  number  of  notes,  and 
even  entire  pao-es  in  his  own  hand-wriling,  the  original 
air  of  Jael,  "To  joy  he  brightens  my  despair,"  is  folded 
down  as  if  to  be  suppressed,  and  is  rephiced  by  three 
new  pages,  with  "  To  joy  he  brightens"  set  to  an  air 
from  Siroe^  "  Sgombra  dell  anima !"  Many  other  ex- 
amples of  this  might  be  cited ;  for  really  some  persons 
seemed  to  think  that  they  might  take  the  most  incredi- 
ble liberties  with  music.  In  the  eighteenth  century 
there  were  editors  who  had  the  barbarous  audacity  to 
correct  Shakspeare,  in  order  to  "  render  him  fit  for  the 
stage ;"  but  no  one  has  dared,  in  imitation  of  these 
musical  arrangers,  to  put  the  description  of  Queen  Mab 
into  Othello's  mouth,  or  Hamlet's  soliloquy  into  that  of 
Falstaff. 


96  LIFEOF     HANDEL. 

Even  while  Handel  was  living,  this  adulteration  of  his 
compositions  was  practiced.  All  collections  of  songs 
about  that  epoch  are  full  of  things  "  by  Mr.  Handel," 
but  of  which  he  was  certainly  guiltless ;  and  these  are 
always  airs  from  his  operas,  and  even  from  his  oratorios, 
adapted  to  English  rhymes.  The  Thesaurus  Musicus^* 
for  example,  contains  "A  bacchanal — 'Bacchus,  god  of 
mortal  pleasures,'  by  Mr.  Handel ;"  which  is  simply  a 
gavot  from  the  overture  of  Otho^  out  of  which  the 
adapter  has  manufactured  a  toper's  duet.  And  not  only 
did  tliey  distort  the  great  master's  mnsic  by  marrying  it 
to  words  which  bore  no  sort  of  relation  to  the  ideas 
which  he  had  intended  it  to  express,  but  they  even  de- 
graded it  by  coupling  it  with  low  comedy  matters.  In 
the  British  Museum  there  is  a  song,  "On  the  Humours 
of  the  town,"  a  dialogue  between  Columbine  and  Punch, 
to  a  favorite  air  of  Mr.  Handel's,  "  0  my  pretty  PuncJii- 
7iello!''''  It  is  an  air  from  Rodelinda^  "Ben  spesso  in 
vago  prato,"  which  is  here  lent  to  Columbine  and  Punch- 
inello for  the  interchange  of  their  amenities.  Harry 
Carey,  the  original  profaner,  had  at  least  the  good  faitii 
to  point  it  out ;  but  Bickham  inserted  "  O  my  pretty 
Punchinello  !"  in  his  "  Musical  Entertainer,"  merely  ob- 
serving "  The  musick  by  Mr.  Handel."  !  ! ! 

*    *    *     "  Comme  avec  irreverence 
Parle  des  dieux  ce  maraud  !" — Amphytr'wn. 

After  Rodelinda^  Scipio  was  produced  in  1726,  of 
which  the  march  became  exceedingly  popular.  It 
was  set  to  the  song,  "We  follow  brave  Hannibal  and 
Scipio,"  of  which  there  is  a  copy  in  the  British  Museum. 
The  authors  of  Polly ^  a  continuation  of  the  Beggar'^s 
Opera^  also  employed  it  in  "  Brave  boys,  prepare ;"  and 
this  explains  Barney's  mistake,  that  this  march  was  in- 

*  Two  volumes  in  folio,  without  a  date.  "  God  save  great  Georgo  our 
King"  is  to  be  found  iu  them  ;  and  this  is  the  first  known  publication 
of  the  superb  English  National  Anthem.  It  is  entitled,  "  A  Loyal  Song, 
Rung  at  the  Theater  Eoyal,  for  two  voices." 


TASTEBOAKD     STONES.  97 

troduccd  into  the  Beggar^s  Opera.  The  march  wliich 
Pepusch  used  for  the  Beggafs  Opera  was  taken  from 
Binaldo. 

The  opera  of  Alexander.,  wliich  was  produced  after 
Scipio,  on  the  7th  of  IVtay,  1726,  "took  much"  (to  use 
the  expression  of  Colman's  Httle  MS.) ;  and,  indeed,  it 
was  revived  in  1727,  1728,  and  1733.  Senesino  achieved 
in  it  an  exploit  which  deserves  to  be  recorded  in  history: 
AYhen,  in  the  part  of  Alexander,  he  led  his  soldiers  to 
the  assault  of  Ossidraca,  he  so  far  forgot  himself  in  the 
heat  of  combat,  as  to  stick  his  sword  into  one  of  the 
pasteboard  stones  of  the  wall  of  the  town,  and  bore  it  in 
triumph  before  him  as  he  entered  the  breach.  This  fact 
is  reported  in  The  World,  for  the  8th  of  February,  1753, 
by  an  old  amateur,  who  congratulates  Garrick  upon  hav- 
ing introduced  a  cascade  of  real  water  among  his  deco- 
rative improvements — "  A  puerility  so  renowned  a  gen- 
eral," said  he,  "  could  never  have  committed,  if  the  ram- 
parts had  been  built,  as  in  this  enlightened  age  they 
would  be,  of  real  brick  a,nd  stone." 

"  Will  you  forgive  an  elderly  man,"  says  he  on  another 
occasion,  "  if  he  can  not  help  recollecting  another  passage 
that  happened  in  his  youth,  and  to  the  same  excellent 
performer  ?  He  was  stepping  into  Armida's  enchanted 
bark,  but,  treading  short,  as  he  was  more  attentive  to  the 
accompaniment  of  the  orchestra  than  to  the  breadth  of 
the  shore,  he  fell  prostrate,  and  lay  for  some  time  in  great 
pahi,  with  the  end  of  a  wave  running  into  his  side.  In 
the  present  state  of  things,  the  worst  that  could  have 
happened  to  him  would  have  been  drowning — a  fate  far 
more  becoming  Rinaldo,  especially  in  the  sight  of  a  Brit- 
ish audience." 

These  anecdotes  are  droll,  and  well  enough  told ;  but 
they  do  not  make  a  better  cascade  out  of  tin-plate  and 
a  piece  of  Dutch  metal,  than  out  of  real  water,  for  all 
that. 

Admetus,  produced  in  1727,  had  nineteen  consecutive 


98  LIFEOFHANDKl^. 

representations,  which  is  one  of  the  longest  runs  recorded 
about  that  time.  The  air  of  Admetus,  "  Spera,  si,  mio 
caro,"  is  considered  to  be  one  of  Handel's  finest  inspira- 
tions.* 

*  Hawkins  says  : — "  Of  this  air  the  late  Mr.  John  Lockman  relates 
the  following  story,  assuring  his  reader  that  himself  was  an  eye-witness 
of  it,  viz. : — When  being  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Lee,  a  gentleman  in  Chesh- 
ire, whose  daughter  was  a  very  fine  performer  on  .the  harpsichord,  he 
saw  a  pigeon,  which,  whenever  the  young  lady  played  this  song,  and 
this  only,  would  fly  from  an  adjacent  dove-house  to  the  window  in  the 
parlor  where  she  sat,  and  listen  to  it  with  the  most  pleasing  emotions, 
and  the  instant  the  song  was  over,  would  return  to  the  dove-liouse. 
{Some  Reflections  concerning  Operas^  etc.,  prefixed  to  Bosalinda,  a  musical 
drama  by  Mr.  Lockman,  in  quarto,  1740)." — It  must  be  confessed  that 
this  was  certainly  a  pigeon  of  taste. 

This  air  was  committed  to  Signora  Faustina  Bordini,  better  known  as 
la  Faustina,  who  had  made  her  debut  (in  1726)  in  Alexander,  and  was 
almost  immediately  regarded  as  the  rival  of  Signora  Cuzzoni.  Each  lady 
had  a  zealous  party  of  admirers,  and  the  dispute  ran  as  high  as  it  did 
subsequently  between  the  Gluckists  and  Piccinists  in  France.  COliey 
Gibber  (in  his  "Dramatic  Works")  represents  the  two  heroines  as  carry- 
ing their  mutual  hatred  to  such  a  pitch  as  to  come  to  actual  blows : 
— "  The  Contretemps,  or  the  Rival  Queens,  a  small  farce,  as  it  has  been 
lately  acted  with  great  applause  at  H — d — r's  [Heidegger's]  private 
the — e  [theater],  near  the  H — m —  [Haymarket]."  In  this  piece  of  ex- 
travagance there  is  not  a  grain  of  wit.  "F — s — a  [Faustina],  a  Qeeen 
of  Bologna,"  and  "  C — z — ni  [Cuzzoni],  Princess  of  Modena,"  after  hav- 
ing exchanged  high  words,  seize  each  other  by  the  hair,  in  spite  of  the 
interference  of  Heidegger  and  Senesino,  and  then  they  go  off,  Cuzzoni 
pursuing  Faustina,  who  runs  away.  Handel  has  a  part  consisting  of  three 
lines,  in  which  he  advises  that  they  be  left  to  fight  it  out,  inasmuch  as 
the  only  way  to  calm  their  fury  is  to  let  them  satisfy  it. 

Burncy  amuses  himself  -with  relating  that  the  rival  factions  were  de- 
stroyed in  a  very  odd  manner.  The  partisans  of  la  Cuzzoni  had  made 
her  swear  on  the  Gospels  that  she  would  never  accept  an  engagement  for 
a  less  sum  than  la  Faustina ;  so  the  managers  who  had  heard  of  this  fact, 
and  who  wished  to  put  an  end  to  a  dispute  which  threatened  to  set  all 
the  town  by  the  ears,  gave  la  Faustina  a  guinea  more  upon  the  renewal 
of  her  engagement;  whereupon  to  Cuzzoni,  fxithful  to  her  oath,  left  the 
kingdom.  The  latter  lady  was  ugly  and  iU  made,  but  la  Faustina  was 
very  handsome,  and,  as  they  were  both  exceedingly  clever,  that  differ- 
ence Y/ill  serve  to  explain  the  reason  why  la  Cuzzoni  did  not  get  the  ad- 
ditional guinea.  But  in  my  humble  opinion  the  anecdote  is  a  mere  tale, 
for  we  find  the  names  of  the  two  ladies  in  the  opera-book  of  Ptolemy 
(1728),  the  last  opera  produced  by  the  Koyal  Academy  of  Music,  and 
they  had  both  quitted  London  when  the  theater  re-opened  some  time  in 


CORONATION    ANTHEMS.  99 

In  this  same  year  (1'727),  George  II.  succeeded  his 
father.  He  was  too  fond  of  music  to  be  satisfied  at  his 
coronation  with  that  of  the  English  composers,  whom  an 
old  law  compelled  him  to  have  in  his  royal  chapels,  so  he 
requested  Handel  to  give  his  assistance,  who  wrote  the 
four  antliems  which  are  called  the  Coronation  Aiithems. 
These  were  performed  at  AVestminster  during  the  cere- 
mony of  the  11th  of  October,  1727,  after  having  been 
solemnly  rehearsed  in  the  cathedral  on  the  6th,  in  the 
presence  of  a  numerous  assemblage.*  This  work  forms 
one  of  the  most  solid  foundations  of  its  author's  glory. 
"  Zadok,  the  priest,"  especially,  is  an  inspiration  of  pro- 
digious grandeur.  The  chorus,  "  God  save  the  king" 
(which  must  not  be  confounded  with  the  National  An- 
them) is  comparable  in  beauty  to  the  "  Hallelujah"  chorus 
in  The  Messiah.  Dr.  William  Crotch  (who  edited  the 
Coronation  Anthems  for  the  Handel  Society)  says  at  the 
end  of  his  little  preface : — "  The  editor  thinks  it  proper 

the  following  year.  One  of  the  thousand  epigrams  which  fomented  this 
quarrel  has  been  preserved.  It  is  directed  against  the  Countess  of  Pem- 
broke, whose  friends  used  to  hiss  la  Faustina : 

"  Old  poets  sing   that  beasts  did  dance, 
Whenever  Orpheus  played ; 
So  to  Faustina's  charming  voice, 
Wise  Pembroke's  asses  brayed." 

Signora  Faustina  became  the  wife  of  Hasse,  the  composer;  and  as  for 
the  other  lady,  the  London  Daily  Post  of  the  7th  of  September,  1741, 
contained  this  startling  piece  of  intelligence: — "  We  hear  ifrom  Italy  that 
the  famous  singer,  Mrs.  C — z — ni  is  under  sentence  of  death  to  be  be- 
headed, for  poisoning  her  hubband!"  Yet  it  is  a  question  whether  she 
was  ever  married  ;  at  all  events,  the  sentence  of  decapitation  must  have 
been  commuted  into  exile,  since  she  made  another  appearance  in  En- 
gland. The  General  Advertiser  of  the  20th  of  May,  1751,  contains  an 
advertisement  from  her,  infonning  the  public  about  "  her  pressing  debts 
and  desire  to  pay  them  by  a  henefit^  which  will  be  the  last  she  will  ever 
trouble  them  with."  The  concert  took  place  on  the  23d  of  May,  and  the 
singers  were  Guadagni,  Palma,  and  Signora  Cuzzoni. 

It  was  this  lady  who,  in  1727,  made  such  a  sensation  in  Rkardo 
Primo^  the  third  act  of  which  (according  to  Burney)  "  is  replete  with 
beauties  of  every  kind." 

*  Malcolm. 


100  LIFE    OF     HANDEL. 

to  state  that  lie  is  not  responsible  for  the  manner  in  which 
the  words  are  spelt,  divided  into  syllables,  or  marked 
with  punctuation  ;"  from  which  it  would  appear  that  the 
Saxon  musician  has  committed,  in  this  great  work,  some 
sins  against  English  prosody. 

Upon  many  occasions  he  drew  fi-agments  from  these 
woi'ks ;  notably  for  Deborah  and  the  Occasional  Orato- 
rio,'^ and  he  appears  even  to  have  performed  them  at  his 
theater.  The  advertisement  announcing  the  performance 
of  Esther^  on  the  2d  of  May,  1732,  states: — "  There  will 
be  no  acting.  The  music  to  be  disposed  after  the  man- 
ner of  the  Coronation  Service."  They  often  hgure  in 
the  programmes  of  the  last  centuiy,  and  even  in  a  hand- 
bill of  the  Coburg  Theater,  dated  10th  of  March,  1820  ; 
but  with  the  orchestra  directors  of  the  present  day,  they 
seem  to  have  quite  fallen  into  disgrace.  During  the  last 
four  years,  the  Sacred  Harmonic  Society  alone  has  per- 
formed one  of  these  anthems,  "  Zadok,  the  priest." 

Dr.  Rimbault  possesses  an  old  pamphlet  (in  quarto), 
printed  at  DubHn  in  1727,  by  order  of  William  Hawkins, 
Esq.,  Ulster  King-at-arms  for  all  Ireland,  entitled,  "  Cer- 
emonial of  the  Coronation  of  his  most  sacred  majesty 
King  George  the  Second,  and  of  his  royal  spouse  Queen 
Caroline."  This  programme  of  the  ceremonial  at  West- 
minster fixes  the  place  of  every  thing  and  the  part  of 
every  actor.  Handel's  fourth  anthem,  "  Let  thy  hand," 
is  not  to  be  found  there ;  but  there  are  four  anthems  by 
composers  whose  names  are  not  given. f 

8iroe  (or  Gyrus)  opened  the  season  of  1728.  The 
poem  is  by  Metastasio,  although  Nicolo  Haym  passed 
himself  off  indirectly  for  the  author  in  his  dedication  : — 
"  To  the  most  illustrious  and  excellent  lords  and  gentle- 
men, the  directors  and  sub-directors  of  the  Royal  Acad- 
emy of  Music,  this  drama  is  very  humbly  dedicated,  by 
their  most  humble  and  most  devoted  servant,  N.  Haym." 

*  See  ''  Catalogue." 

t  Preface  of  the  Handel  Society  edition  of  the  Coronation  Anfhema, 


"SIROE"    AND     "PTOLEMY."  101 

Considering  this  superlative  humility  toward  "  the  most 
illustrious  and  excellent  lords  and  gentlemen,"  it  must  be 
admitted  that  Haym  did  not  pass  for  a  jMetastasio  very 
cheaply.  Tiie  Daily  Journal  of  Monday,  the  19th  of 
February,  1728,  which  had  not  hitherto  announced  the 
first  performance  of  ySVroe,  merely  says: — "The  king, 
queen,  and  princess  royal,  and  the  Princesses  Amelia  and 
Caroline,  went  to  the  Oper:i,  House  in  the  Haymarkct  on 
Saturday  last,  and  saw  performed  tlie  new  opera  called 
Siroey  It  seemed,  therefore,  more  important  to  the 
journalist  to  record  that  the  king  went  to  the  theater, 
than  that  the  new  opera  was  by  Handel.  It  is  not  im- 
possible, however,  that  the  king  and  his  august  flimily 
did  not  see  Slroe  on  that  day,  but  some  other  work,  for 
the  same  journal  of  the  28th  of  March  following,  con- 
tains a  paragraph,  the  details  of  which  seem  to  refer  to 
something  exceptional,  like  a  first  representation: — "At 
the  King's  Theater  in  the  Hayraarket,  on  Saturday  next, 
being  the  30th  of  March,  will  be  performed  a  new  opera 
called  Siroe.  Tickets  will  be  delivered  at  the  ofiice  in 
the  Haymarket,  on  Friday ;  and  having  no  annual  sub- 
scribers admitted  this  season,  four  hundred  tickets  and 
no  more  will  be  given  out,  at  half  a  guinea  each.  No 
persons  whatsoever  will  be  admitted  for  money,  nor  any 
tickets  sold  at  the  bar,  but  in  the  proper  ofiaces.  The 
gallery,  5s.  By  his  majesty's  command,  no  persons 
whatsoever  to  be  admitted  behind  the  scenes.  To  be- 
exactly  at  6  o'clock. — Yivant  Rex  et  Regina." 

Ptolemy^  or  Tolemeo^  appeared  in  1728.  The  echo  air 
in  that  opera,  "  Dite  che  fa,"  excited  quite  a  rage  for 
imitation,  but  the  opera  was  not  performed  more  than 
seven  times  for  all  that.  Ptolemy^  nevertheless,  reap- 
peared on  the  2d  of  January,  1733.*  A  leaf  added  to 
the  old  book  (doubtless  belonging  to  that  epoch),  headed 
"  Additions  and  Alterations,"  does  not  contain  less  than 
seven  airs  and  one  new  chorus.  Xo  author  ever  re- 
*  Colraan. 


102  LIFE    OF    HANDEL. 

touched  his  works  so  much  and  so  frequently  as  Handel 
did.  Being  the  director  of  a  theater,  and  often  having 
new  artists  to  produce,  being  gifted,  moreover,  with  a 
prodigious  facility  of  composition,  he  changed  or  added 
something  at  almost  every  revival,  sometimes  to  please 
the  singers,  and  sometimes  to  offer  a  new  attraction  to 
the  public. 

At  the  same  time  as  Ptoletny  and  Siroe  were  making 
their  appearance  in  the  Hajmiarket,  John  Rich,  the  pro- 
prietor of  the  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields  Theater,  brought  out 
there  Gay's  Beggar'' s  Opera^  one  of  the  few,  among  En- 
glish operas,  which  has  survived  the  day  of  its  birth. 
The  music  of  this  was  entirely  made  up  of  local  ballads, 
put  into  the  score  by  Dr.  Pepusch.  The  whole  town 
hastened  to  admire  it ;  at  the  first  run  it  had  sixty-three 
consecutive  representations,*  which  caused  people  to  say 
that  "it  made  Gay  r/cA,  and  Rich  </«y."t 


*  London  Magazine^  December,  1754. 

\  It  would  be  difficult  to  imajjine  any  tliino^  more  revoltiii;^  than  the 
morality  of  the  poem.  Macheath,  the  chief  of  a  band  of  highwaymen, 
is  an  amiable,  pleasant,  and  happy  fellow,  adored  by  the  women,  tri- 
umphant over  justice,  and,  in  fact,  the  Eobert  Macaire  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  Peaclium,  the  old  receiver  of  stolen  goods,  traffics  with  justice 
to  save  his  cleverest  thieves,  and  outrages  the  best  feelings  of  humanity 
with  imperturbable  coolness.  He  ill-treats,  for  instance,  his  daughter 
Polly,  because  she  wishes  to  marry  like  an  honest  girl,  and  tells  her  that 
he  should  never  have  lived  so  happily  with  her  mother  if  he  had  been 
fool  enough  to  marry  her.  The  success  of  such  lessons  could  not  but 
give  them  a  most  dangerous  influence,  and  augment  the  vices  of  an  age 
in  which  the  queen  herself,  the  accomplice  of  the  corrupt  Walpole,  was 
accused  of  sympathizing  with  Macheath.  In  the  Lives  of  the  Queens  of 
England  of  the  House  of  Hanover^  it  is  said  [vol.  i.,  p.  231] — "  Caroline 
herself  was  probably  not  opposed  to  the  morale  of  the  piece ;  her  own 
chairmen  were  suspected  of  being  in  league  with  highwaymen,  and  prob- 
ably were ;  but  on  their  being  arrested  and  dismissed  from  her  service  by 
the  master  of  her  household,  who  suspected  their  guilt,  she  was  indig- 
nant at  the  liberty  taken,  and  insisted  on  their  being  restored.  She  had 
no  objection  to  be  safely  carried  by  suspected  confederates  of  highway- 
men." 

The  success  was  terrible.  Eeferring  to  Polly,  the  heroine  of  the  play, 
Carey  wrote  : 


HOGARTH.  103 

The  noble  compositions  of  Handel  and  of  Bononcini 
were  far  from  obtaining  a  success  equal  to  that  of  Mac- 
heath's  ballads.  The  Italian  Opera  was  not  more  suc- 
cessful under  the  direction  of  the  Royal  Academy  of 
Music  than  it  was  before.  In  1728,  the  funds  raised  by 
subscription  were  exhausted,  and  it  was  determined  that 

"  She  has  fired  the  tovm,  has  quite  cut  down 

The  opera  of  liolli  / 
Go  where  you  will,  the  subject  still 

Is  pretty,  pretty  Polly. 
There's  Madam  Faustina,  Catso ! 

And  else  Madame  Catsoni  ; 
Likewise  Signior  Seuesino, 

Are  tutu  alhandonV 
"We  may  judge  of  the  esteem  in  which  this  piece  of  licentiousness  was 
held  by  the  number  of  compositions  which  obtained  analogous  titles. 
In  the  catalogue  of  Watts,  who  published  the  handbooks,  maybe  found, 
T/ie  Village  Opera,  The  Lover's  Opera,  The  Harlequin's  Opera,  and  The 
Quaker'' s  Opera — all  "  with  the  musick  prefix'd  to  each  song." 

But,  nevertheless,  there  were  not  wanting  a  few  sensible  and  honest 
literati,  who  attempted  to  combat  the  prevailing  epidemic.  The  Gentle- 
nuiTi's  Magazine  for  February,  1731,  informs  us  that — "  The  Grecian 
Ci.ffee-house,  February  8th,  takes  notice  of  the  strange  fondness  the  world 
has  for  a  new  humor,  which  they  are  never  tired  of  till  it  surfeits.  In- 
stances the  Beggar''s  Opera,  and  the  inundation  of  ballad  operas  that 
succeeded  it.  Tragedies  and  comedies  sink  in  esteem,  and  all  the  play- 
houses subsist  by  ballads  and  harlequins.  This  custom  of  jading  a 
humor  is  the  high-road  to  absurdity  and  folly.  When  the  fancy  of 
verees  in  burlesque  first  began  in  France,  it  grew  to  such  a  height  that  a 
book  was  printed  entitled  '  La  Passion  da  notre  Sauveur  en  vers  bur- 
lesques.'' " 

Arbuthnot,  whose  sound  and  healthy  wit  was  always  on  the  right 
side,  pointed  out  also  with  indignation  the  obstinacy  with  which  this 
piece  was  kept  in  vogue.  Hogarth,  too,  who  was  never  wanting  in  a 
good  cause,  attacked  it  in  one  of  those  caricatures,  in  which  each  stroke  of 
the  pencil  has  a  meaning.  The  actors,  with  the  heads  of  wolves,  asses, 
cats,  and  oxen,  are  playing  upon  a  platform  which  is  erected  in  the  mid- 
dle of  a  theater,  the  boxes  of  which  are  full  of  spectators,  while  (with 
the  grossness  of  the  times)  the  most  disgusting  deposits  are  being  made 
beneath  the  eyes  of  the  spectators.  At  the  foot  of  the  platform  sta;ids  a 
crowd  of  nobles  and  of  people  in  a  state  of  ecstacy.  One  of  the  nobles, 
who  carries  a  cross  and  a  ribbon  of  some  order  upon  his  breast,  has  fallen 
on  his  knees  in  a  transport  of  admiration.  Beneath  the  stage  is  Orpheus, 
dying  of  inanition,  and  letting  fall  from  his  hands  his  sempiterniil  lyre. 
On  either  side  may  be  seen  a  gallows,  and  a  tavern-sign  bearing  the  in- 
signia of  the  garter,  with  its  shameless  motto — "  Iloni  salt  qui  mal  y 


104  LIFE    OF    HANDEL. 

the  undertaking  should  be  dissolved.  It  had  been  a  loss 
from  the  very  beginning.     On   the  7th  of  November, 

1720,  the  Dally  Courant  contained  an  advertisement 
from  the  Committee  of  Direction,  making  a  call  of  five 
per  cent,  upon  the  subscribers.     On  the   10th  of  July, 

1721,  they  made  a  sixtJi  call  of  a  similar  nature.     Two 

fensey  In  the  (Aistance  the  angel  of  harmony  is  flying  across  a  dark 
cloud,  and  below  are  these  lines  : 

"  Britons,  attend  ! — view  th's  harmonious  stage, 
And  listen  to  those  notes  which  charm  the  age; 
Thus  shall  your  tastes  in  sound  and  sense  be  shown, 
And  Beggar'^ s  Op'ras  ever  be  your  own." 

But  it  was  of  no  use,  Machcath  still  remained  the  favorite  of  the  pub- 
lic. And — to  see  the  contradictions  of  the  human  mind  ! — this  mockery 
of  all  decency,  this  work,  more  revolting  than  the  Lysistrata  of  Aris- 
tophanes, has  preserved  to  this  day  its  popularity  among  the  most  pious 
people  that  is  to  be  found  within  the  four  quarters  of  the  globe.  The 
Beggar''s  Opera  yet  keeps  possession  of  the  English  stage,  under  permis- 
sion of  the  same  Lord  Chamberlain  who  thought  it  consistent  with  his 
duty  to  prevent  Madame  Eistori  from  playing  Mirra.  Year  after  year  it 
makes  its  appearance  in  some  part  of  London,  to  sing  its  shameful  songs, 
and  preach  the  morality  of  the  hulks.  In  May,  1S56,  it  appeared  in  tlie 
bills  of  Sadler^s  Wells  Theater,  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  years 
after  its  first  performance  !  It  must  be  confessed  that  this  swallowing 
of  old  Peachum's  impudent  tirades,  expressed  in  good  broad  English, 
and  this  straining  at  the  Italian  tragedy  of  Mirra,  smacks  strongly  of  the 
morality  of  Arsinoe,  in  the  MisantJirope : 

"Elle  fViit  de^  tableaux  couvrir  les  nudites, 
Mais  elle  a  de  I'amour  pour  les  reulites." 

The  theater  ought  certainly  to  be  as  unfettered  as  the  press.  Censor- 
ships and  interdictions  serve  only  the  passions  of  the  censor ;  and  to 
prohibit  is  not  to  refute.  Beggars^  Operas  are,  after  all,  only  the  evil  of 
a  good,  and  unfortunately  the  one  can  not  be  destroyed  without  the 
other.  These  observations,  therefore,  are  by  no  means  intended  to 
suggest  the  prohibition  of  Gay's  piece,  but  only  to  appreciate  tlie  taste 
which  admires  these  representations  of  crime  made  pleasant,  and  pros- 
titution made  interesting.  If  the  mannei-s  and  sentiments  of  a  nation 
are  to  judged  by  its  dramatic  predilections,  the  permanent  trium})h  of 
Machcath,  and  the  enormous  and  more  recent  success  of  the  Traciata  {m 
spite  of  its  inferior  music),  are  certainly  not  very  creditable  to  England. 

The  Beggar'' s  Opera  is  full  of  biting  allusions  to  the  minister  Walpole, 
some  of  which  the  Jacobite  Pope  had  assisted  in  sharpening.  Its  suc- 
cess at  the  time  it  was  first  produced  was  very  much  due  to  the  attacks 
which  it  directed  against  the  corruption  of  the  court.    But  that  can  not 


THE     ACADEMY     IN     DIFFICULTIES.  105 

years  after  its  fouiKlation,  the  Academy  had  spent  £15,- 
000,  and  tlie  committee  made  a  new  appeal  for  funds,  to 
which  the  cooled  enthusiasm  of  some  of  the  subscribers 
responded  but  ill ;  for  on  the  2d  of  November,  1721,  in 
pursuance  of  a  resolution  passed  at  a  general  meeting, 
the  Daily  Courant  published  a  note,  giving  "  notice  to 
every  such  defaulter,  that  unless  he  pays  'the  call  on. or 
before  the  22d  of  November  next,  his  name  will  be 
printed,  and  he  shall  be  proceeded  against  with  the  ut- 
most rigor  of  the  law."  On  the  8th  of  April,  1723, 
another  threat  appears,  to  the  eftect  that  "  proper  meas- 
ures will  be  taken  to  oblige  them  to  pay  what  is  due." 
About  this  time  also  the  noble  directors  of  the  theater 
liad  recourse  to  an  expedient  for  raising  money,  which 
proved  that  they  had  become  not  very  particular  as  to 
what  means  they  resorted  to  for  ameliorating  their  sit- 
uation ;  they  resolved  to  give  subscription-balls,  of  a 
nature  not  very  dissimilar  to  those  which  are  occasion- 
ally held  at  the  same  place  in  this  moral  age.  Malcolm 
says,*  that  "  one  of  the  entertainments  for  which  the 
Opera-house  was  used  in  1723  attracted  the  notice  of  the 
Grand  Jury  of  Middlesex,  whose  presentment  follows : 
'  Whereas  there  has  been  lately  published  a  proposal  for 
six  ridottos  or  balls,  to  be  managed  by  subscription,  at 
the  King's  Theater  in  the  Haymarket,  Ave,  the  Grand 
Jury  of  the  County  of  Middlesex,  sworn  to  inquire  for 
our  sovereign  lord  the  king  and  the  body  of  this  county, 
conceiving  the  same  to  be  wicked  and  illegal  practices, 
and  which,  if  not  timely  suppressed,  may  promote  de- 
be  the  cause  of  its  being  in  favor  now  ;  tbe  people  of  these  days  having 
no  reason  to  complain  of  the  court,  the  piece  has  no  other  attraction 
than  its  shamelessness  and  its  rather  pretty  ballads. 

The  composer  of  Polly  (a  sequel  to  the  Beggar''s  Opera,  which  was 
prodiiced  in  April,  1729)  put  into  practice  the  morality  of  his  model ; 
for  he  stole  some  of  his  music  from  Handel.  "Abroad  after  misses," 
and  "  Cheer  up,  my  lads,"  are  made  out  of  two  minuets  belonging  to 
Water  Music;  "  Brave  boys,  prepare,"  is  a  march  in  Scipio. 

"  Vous  avez  de  I'esprit  si  vous  n'avez  du  coeur." — Mcomede. 

*  Vol  ii.,  p.  157. 

5* 


106  LIFE     or    HANDEL. 

banchery,  lewdness,  and  ill  conversation ;  from  a  just 
abhorrence,  therefore,  of  such  sort  of  assemblies,  which 
w^o  apprehend  are  contrary  to  law  and  good  manners, 
and  give  great  offense  to  his  majesty's  good  and  virtuous 
subjects,  we  do  present  the  same,  and  recommend  them 
to  be  prosecuted  and  suppressed  as  common  nuisances  to 
the  public,  as  nurseries  of  lewdness,  extravagance,  and 
immorality,  and  also  a  reproach  and  scandal  to  civil  gov- 
ernment.'    This  presentment  had  no  effect  whatever." 

In  spite,  however,  even  of  this  expedient,  the  finances 
did  not  improve.  Burney  mentions  the  constant  adver- 
tisements of  the  Academy  for  calls  of  five  per  cent.  In 
May,  1727,  the  seventeenth  of  such  advertisements  ap- 
peared, and  in  July  the  nineteenth.  Neither  the  genius 
of  the  principal  composer,  nor  the  merit  of  the  artists, 
was  sufficient  to  attract  the  public.  The  theater  became 
more  and  more  neglected.  Haym,  in  dedicating  the 
libretto  of  Ptolemy  to  the  Earl  of  Albemarle,  implores 
his  protection  for  the  Italian  Opera,  "  almost  in  the  last 
extremity"  ("  casi  cadente  nell'  Inghilterra").  A  letter, 
attributed  to  Arbuthnot,  and  inserted  in  the  London 
Journal  of  the  23d  of  March,  1728,  makes  bitter  com- 
plaints on  the  same  subject : — "  As  there  is  nothing 
whi(;h  surprises  all  true  lovers  of  music  more  than  the 
neglect  into  which  the  Italian  operas  are  at  present 
fallen,  so  I  can  not  but  think  it  a  very  extraordinary 
instance  of  the  fickle  and  inconstant  temper  of  the  En- 
glish nation  ;  a  failing  which  they  have  always  been 
endeavoi'ing  to  cast   upon  their  neighbors  in  France,* 


*  Lord  Chesterfield,  who  had  lived  for  some  time  in  France,  also  pro- 
tested against  this  singular  impression,  which  the  London  Cockneys 
entertained  of  the  French  nation  : — "The  colder  northern  nations  gen- 
erally look  upon  France  as  a  whistling,  singing,  dancing,  frivolous 
nation:  this  notion  is  very  far  from  being  a  true  one,  though  many 
fetits  maitres  by  their  behavior  seem  to  justify  it;  but  those  very  petits 
maitres^  when  mellowed  by  age  and  experience,  very  often  tm-n  out  very 
able  men.  The  number  of  great  generals  and  statesmen,  as  well  as 
excellent  authors,  that  France  has  produced,  is  an  undeniable  proof  that 


COST    OF    MOUNTING.  107 

but  to  wliich  they  themselves  have  at  least  a  good  title, 
as  will  appear  to  any  one  who  will  take  the  pains  to  con- 
sult our  historians." 

But  whether  this  was  true  or  not,  it  is  certain  that  the 
£50,000  which  w^as  subscribed  in  1720  by  the  founders 
of  the  Royal  Academy  of  Music,  was  all  gone  in  1728. 
The  promoters  were  tired  of  so  costly  a  pleasure,  so 
they  put  an  end  to  the  business  by  closing  their  theater 
on  the  1st  of  June,  1728,  and  the  Italian  company  dis- 
persed over  the  Continent. 

If  the  rent  of  the  theater,  from  1720  to  1728,  con- 
tributed to  this  sad  result,  it  must  have  been  considera- 
bly augmented  since  1706.  In  that  year  we  learn,  from 
The  Dally  Post  of  the  9th  of  April,  that  "  Mr.  Swiny 
has  taken  the  theater  in  the  Haymarket  for  £5  per  day, 
not  to  exceed  £700  per  annum."  As  many  of  the  operas 
(such  as  Flavins^  Sciino^  jStroe^  and  Ptolemy)  were 
mounted  in  twelve,  ten,  and  even  seven  days,  we  can 
not  suppose  that  they  occasioned  any  very  ruinous  ex- 
pense. To  explain  the  rapidity  with  which  this  was 
occasionally  done,  w^e  must  suppose  that  works  were 
sometimes  being  copied  and  rehearsed  while  Handel  was 
composing,  or  even  improvising  them.  In  speaking  of 
Pastor  Fido^  Colman  says,  "  the  habits  were  old  ;"  and 
when  he  mentions  Fkio^  Orlando^  and  some  others,  he 
adds,  w^ith  his  usual  brevity,  "  the  clothes  and  scenes  all 
new."  Therefore  it  was  not  every  new  opera  that  was 
produced  with  fresh  scenes  and  costumes.  Indeed,  it 
would  appear  from  the  amusing  philippic  which  will  pres- 
ently be  quoted,  that  these  accessories  did  not  always 
occasion  any  very  great  expense.  It  is  Malcolm*  who 
(in  1723)  quotes  the  following,  as  "a  just  criticism  ex- 
tracted from  a  cotemporary  journal :" 

"  When  we   come  to  consider  the  decoration  of  the 

it  is  uot  that  frivolous,  unthiukiug,  empty  nation  that  northern  preju- 
dice supposes  it." — Chesteeitield's  Letters  to  his  Son. 
*  Vol.  ii.,  p.  156. 


108  LIFE     OF     HANI>EL. 

stage  at  present,  we  shall  sometimes  find  it  magnificent 
and  well  ordered.  In  this  I  exclude  the  habits  of  the 
characters  or  persons  of  the  drama,  in  whicli  tlie  propi'i- 
ety  is  not  near  so  well  observed  as  in  the  scenery ;  for 
we  shall  often  see  a  shabby  king  surrounded  by  a  party 
of  his  guards,  every  man  of  which  belongs  to  the  ragged 
reo'iment.  One  would  think  that  the  manasjers  of  the 
theater  were  republicans  in  their  princij^les,  and  they  did 
this  on  purpose  to  bring  monarchy  into  contempt ;  for  it 
is  certain  that  Duncan,  king  of  Scotland,  has  not  had  a 
new  habit  for  this  last  century ;  and  the  mighty  Julius 
Caesar,  first  emperor  of  Rome,  appears  as  ragged  as  a 
colt ;  and  many  other  monarchs  I  could  name,  that  are 
no  better  dressed  than  heathen  philosophers.  The  rea- 
son is,  that  you  will  find  those  parts  are  not  played  by 
any  of  the  three  managers,  and  it  is  their  awkward  van- 
ity to  appear  fine  themselves  though  never  so  much  out 
of  character." 

Since  the  kings  were  so  shabbily  equipped,  it  is  clear 
that  the  receipts  of  the  lioyal  Academy  of  Music  must 
have  been  very  poor  to  have  admitted  of  the  dissipation 
of  £50,000.  The  small  number  of  representations  wdiich 
even  the  best  works  enjoyed,  proves  also  that  even  small 
audiences  could  only  be  attracted  by  continually  tempt- 
ing them  with  novelties.  In  a  theater,  the  losses  mount 
up  as  quickly  when  it  is  out  of  favor,  as  the  profits  do 
wdien  the  public  is  pleased.  Mr.  Delafield  lost  £60,000 
at  Covent  Garden  Theater  in  two  years  only,  ]848  and 
1849  ;  during  which  time  (intending  to  rival  the  attrac- 
tion of  Mile.  Jenny  Lind  at  the  Opera-house  in  the  Hay- 
market)  he  spent  £25,000  in  mounting  four  operas  only 
— the  Projyhete,  the  Huguenots^  Lnorezia^  and  La  Don- 
na del  Lago.  At  Paris,  the  Jidf  Errant  cost  £6,000  in 
being  made  ready  for  its  failure.  No  one  (not  even  a 
republican^  could  desire  to  return  to  the  shabby  kings 
and  old  clothes  of  the  Royal  Academy  of  1720;  but 
there  is  certainly  some  danger  of  the   costly  and  luxu- 


CAUSE    OF    FAILURE.  109 

rions  decoration  which  is  now  in  vogue.  In  this  may  be 
found  the  reason  why  managers  will  not  produce  the 
works  of  any  man  whose  name  is  not  a  kind  of  guaranty 
of  buccess ;  for  they  will  not  risk  £6,000  upon  the  name 
of  a  new' man.  And  this  is  why,  for  the  last  twenty 
years,  France  has  not  produced  one  single  new  composer. 
Ten  die  of  weariness  before  one  can  get  a  piece  repre- 
sented, and  then  only  by  the  force  of  interest  and 
intrigues. 

The  entei'prise  of  the  Academy,  far  from  being  con- 
tinually prosperous  (according  to  the  assertion  of  Main- 
waring  and  Hawkins,  which  is  adopted  by  almost  every 
biographer),  was  a  constant  source  of  loss.  The  offensive 
threats  addressed  to  the  defaulting  subscribers  in  1721 
and  1723,  and  the  complaints  of  Haym  and  Arbuthnot, 
prove  this  beyond  a  doubt.  Public  indifference  was  the 
real  cause  of  the  Academy's  dissolution,  and  not,  as  has 
been  pretended,  the  violent  and  imperious  character  of 
Handel,  which,  as  well  as  his  quarrels  with  Senesino,  is 
said  to  have  disgusted  the  noble  directors.  The  best  proof 
that  these  quarrels  are  imaginary  is,  that  Senesino  after- 
ward returned  to  the  Haymarket  when  Handel  took  the 
theater  on  his  own  account.  Senesino,  whose  fine  talent 
was  sure  to  make  his  fortune  anywhere,  would  not  have 
quitted  Italy  (at  the  same  time  breaking,  as  we  shall 
presently  see,  an  engagement  which  he  had  entered  into 
at  Rome)  to  place  himself  at  the  disposal  of  a  man  whom 
he  hated ;  and  Handel,  for  his  part,  was  not  the  man  to 
engage  an  artist  a  second  time,  who  had  previously  been 
wanting  in  respect  toward  himself  The  disputes  be- 
tween him  and  Senesino  arose  only  during  their  second 
connection  ;  and  as  for  the  enmity  wiiich  caused  the 
nobility  to  raise  another  theater  in  opposition  to  his, 
that  manifested  itself  a  long  time  subsequently.  Hawkins, 
in  spite  of  his  relation  Avith  the  great  composer,  has 
utterly  confounded  the  dates;  for  he  attributes  to  1728 
events  which  did  not  occur  before  1738. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

1729—1732. 

Handel  takes  the  Italian  Theater  with  Heidegger — Successive  Failure 
OF  ALL  HIS  Productions—"  Esther,"  the  First  English  Oratorio— Origin 
OF  Oratorios  — Op  their  Performance  without  Action  — "Acis  and 
Galatea"— Opera  1'  and  2'  of  Handel's  Instrumental  Works. 

Handel  now  possessed  £10,000,  wliich  he  had  saved 
out  of  the  profits  of  his  previous  works.  In  spite  of  the 
indifference  which  the  public  had  manifested,  and  of  the 
enormous  loss  which  had  been  incurred  in  the  face  of  a 
subscription  supported  by  the  entire  aristocracy,  he  made 
arrangements  with  Heidegger,  the  proprietor  of  the 
Haymarket  Theater,  to  bring  out  operas  there,  and  in 
partnership,  for  three  years ;  and  he  went  to  Italy  to 
bring  together  a  company.  In  passing  through  Ham- 
burg on  his  way  back,  he  engaged  a  basso,  Godfred 
Reimschneider,  first  singer  at  the  cathedral  of  that  town  ; 
but  he  did  not  see  his  old  friend  Mattheson,  who  says, 
with  the  dryness  of  a  man  wlio  does  not  wish  to  com- 
plain, "he  made  a  journey  to  Dresden  to  seek  for  some 
singers,  and  I  heard  that  he  passed  through  Hamburg." 
Handel  preserved  no  affection  for  Mattheson,  with  whom 
he  had  been  so  intimate  in  his  youth  ;  but  what  was  the 
reason  of  this  does  not  appear. 

The  Daily  Courmit  of  the  2d  of  July,  1729,  announces 
his  return  to  London  in  the  following  manner : — "  Mr. 
Handel,  who  is  just  returned  from  Italy,  has  contracted 
wdth  the  following  persons  to  perform  in  the  Italian 
Opera  : — Sig.  Bernacchi,  who  is  esteemed  the  best  singer 
in  Italy ;  Signora  Merighi,  a  woman  of  a  very  fine  pres- 
ence, an  excellent  actress,  and  a  very  good  singer,  with 
a  counter-tenor  voice  ;  Signora  Strada,  who  hath  a  very 


THE    ITALIAN     OPERA.  Ill 

fine  treble  voice,  a  person  of  singular  merit ;  Sig.  Anni- 
bale  Pio  Fabri,  a  most  excellent  tenor,  and  a  fine  voice  ; 
his  wife,  who  performs  a  man's  part  exceeding  well ; 
Signora  Bertoldi,  who  has  a  very  fine  treble  voice,*  she 
is  also  a  very  genteel  actress,  both  in  men  and  women 
parts ;  a  bass  voice  from  Hamburg,  there  being  none 
w^orth  engaging  in  Italy."  This  last  was  Godfred  Reim- 
schneider. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  this  enumeration  of  marvels 
sounds  rather  pompously.  It  would  appear,  however, 
that  ladies  capable  of  "  performing  a  man's  part"  were 
very  much  in  vogue  ;  since  Handel,  as  we  shall  presently 
see,  found  it  necessary  to  add  a  third  to  his  company. 

These  artists  disembarked  at  Dover,  about  the  end  of 
September,  and  the  Italian  Opera,  which  had  been  closed 
for  eighteen  months,  reopened  on  the  2d  of  December, 
1729,  with  Jjotliario^  a  new  score  by  the  manager.  Bur- 
ney  places  this  above  all  the  others.  After  having  Avrit- 
ten  Lothario  amid  the  bustle  of  preparation,  and  the 
complete  reorganization  of  a  theater,  Plandel  produced 
Parthenope  on  the  24th  of  February,  1730. 

Parthenope  was  published  by  Walsli,  who  became  at 
that  time  Handel's  sole  publisher.  The  arrangements 
between  them  were  long,  and  diflScult  of  conclusion. 
After  having  had  Pinaldo  in  1711,  Walsh  had  nothing 
more  from  Handel  until  1721.  It  was  Cluer  who,  in  1720, 
printed  the  Suites  de  Pieces^  and  Richard  Meares  who 
published  Padamisto.  In  1722,  having  doubtless  re- 
ceived an  offer  from  Walsh,  he  published  through  him, 
but  always  on  his  own  account,  Floridante^  Otho^  and 
Plavio^  successively.  It  appears,  however,  as  if  he  was 
not  satisfied  with  him,  since  it  was  Cluer  who  published 
Pulius  Ccp.sar  in  1724,  and  who  was  his  publisher  up  to 
1728  ;  and  it  is  to  be  regretted  that  he  did  not  always 
remain  so.     This  rival  of  Walsh  was,  apparently,  an  en- 

*  This  is  a  mistake :  Sa.  Bertoldi  was  a  contralto,  and  her  right  name 
was  Bertolli. 


112  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

graver  himself.  His  editions  are  inlinilely  more  beautiful 
than  all  others,  for  they  manifest  the  hand  of  an  artist. 
His  Julius  Cmsm\  in  octavo,  is  a  very  pretty  little  vol- 
ume, and  his  Suites  de  Pieces  are  admirably  engraved, 
with  a  title-page  of  decorative  letters  in  the  writing- 
master  style,  composed  with  a  taste  and  executed  with  a 
purity  which  could  not  be  surpassed  in  these  days.  In 
A  Pocket  Companion  (a  collection  of  music  in  two  a'oI- 
umes,  octavo),  he  says : — "  The  proprietor  of  this  book 
will  speedily  publish  (in  a  neat,  large,  octavo  size,  for  the 
pocket)  the  celebrated  Opera  of  Julius  Ccesar^  he  hav- 
ing a  grant  for  the  sole  engraving,  printing,  and  publish- 
ing tiie  same."  His  two  editions  of  Julius  Coesar  (in 
quarto  and  in  octavo)  have,  moreover,  the  patent,  which 
has  been  already  mentioned  in  connection  with  Racla- 
misto.  Such  a  declaration  seems  to  have  been  intended 
for  a  warning  to  all  pirates,  but  it  did  not  prevent  Walsh 
from  reproducing  all  Cluer's  operas.  Nevertheless,  in 
1728,  AYalsh  made  new  arrangements  w^ith  Handel,  for 
he  it  M'as  who  published  Ptolemy^  to  the  exclusion  of 
Cluer,  who  did  not  publish  any  edition  of  Ptolemy.  It 
would  seem,  however,  as  if  they  parted  once  more,  for 
the  original  edition  of  Lotharius^  in  1729,  was  by  Cluer  ; 
but,  in  1730,  they  came  together  again  for  the  fourth 
time  and  were  no  more  separated.  From  Parthenope  to 
Tlie  Triumph  of  Time.,  Handel's  last  work,  every  thing 
was  published  by  Walsh. 

It  is  probable  that  there  was  some  sort  of  treaty  be- 
tween them.  If  so,  what  was  its  effect?  Upon  this 
point  there  exists  vague  tradition  which  may  here  be 
recorded. 

By  a  happy  accident,  I  chanced  to  meet  Mr.  John 
Caulfield,  who  had  been  an  engraver  of  music,  and  whose 
father,  who  had  followed  the  same  business,  was  appren- 
ticed to  Walsh,  by  whom  he  had  been  employed  to  carry 
the  proofs  for  Handel's  correction.  Mr.  Caulfield,  who 
is  eighty-three  years  old,  and  is  one  of  the  few  living  per- 


PUBLISniNG    ARRANGEMENTS.  113 

sons  who  can  boast  of  liaving  spoken  to  one  who  had 
spoken  to  Handel,  lias  heard  it  said  at  the  paternal  iire- 
side,  that  Walsh,  who  was  extremely  rich,  very  parsi- 
monious, and  so  suspicious  that  he  would  sometimes 
leave  pieces  of  gold  upon  his  desk  in  order  to  test  the 
honesty  of  his  clerks  and  workmen,  gave  twenty  guineas 
to  the  great  composer  for  each  oratorio  which  he  printed. 
This  is  scarcely  credible.  A  singer  of  moderate  order 
will  now  receive  tvventy-tive  guineas  for  singing  four 
pieces  in  a  concert. 

iJ^evevtheless,  the  memory ^of  the  little  apprentice  may, 
after  all,  be  more  exact  than  we  are  now  disposed  to  be- 
lieve ;  the  labor  of  the  intellect  was  at  that  time  shame- 
fully underpaid.  We  shall  presently  see  that  the  printer 
of  a  volume  of  madrigals,  by  Lotti,  acquired  possession 
of  it  in  consideration  of  thirty  copies  of  the  loork  itself. 
Dr.  J.  Warton  relates  that  Dryden  received  from  his 
bookseller  about  £25  for  each  of  his  pieces ;  and  that  in 
1715,  Tonson  paid  Richard  Steele  £50  for  AdcUsoii^s 
Dniimner  ;  and  that,  in  1721,  Dr.  Young  had  only  £50 
for  his  famous  piece,  Revenge.  Every  body  knows  that 
the  manuscript  of  Paradise  Lost  was  bought  for  £5, 
with  an  agreement  to  pay  £15  more  should  the  work 
attain  a  third  edition  ;  which  was  something  less  than  £7 
for  each  edition. 

But  if  twenty  guineas  were  given  for  each  oratorio, 
what  would  be  the  price  of  an  opera?  That  is  not 
known ;  but  whatever  it  was,  it  is  certain  that  Walsh 
proved  himself  to  be  a  very  active  and  enterprising,  if 
not  a  very  careful  publisher.  He  brought  out  immedi- 
ately the  sequel  to  the  collection  of  Overtures  for  the 
Harpsichord^  commenced  in  1726,  and  which  had  been 
stationary  at  the  first  volume  since  that  time  ;  he  com- 
menced his  great  collections  of  Apollo^ s  Feast,  Chamber 
^l?>e5,  and  Overtures  in  eight  parts  ;*  he  published  sev- 
eral things  which  had  been  previously  written,  but  which 
*  See  in  the  "  Catalogue" — Publications  of  ITandeVs  Works. 


114  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

Still  remained  in  manuscript,  such  as  JVciter  3fusic,  the 
Utrecht  Te  Deimi,  and  Juhilate^  etc.  In  fact,  whatever 
Handel  wrote  he  printed  immediately,  after  his  fashion — 
that  is  to  say,  very  imperfectly.  They  seem  to  have  be- 
come very  good  friends  in  1739,  for  the  edition  of 
"  Twelve  Grand  Concertos,"  published  in  this  year,  con- 
tains the  copy  of  a  patent,  dated  the  31st  of  October, 
1739,  which  grants  to  Walsh,  "at  the  request  of  Han- 
del," the  exclusive  right  of  publishing  all  his  works  : — 
"  Whereas,  George  Frederick  Handel,  of  the  parish  of 
St.  George,  Hanover  Square,  in  our  county  of  Middlesex, 
Esq.,  hath  humbly  represented  unto  us,  that  he  hath, 
wdth  great  labour  and  expense,  composed  several  works 
consisting  of  vocal  and  instrumental  music,  and  hath 
authorized  and  appointed  John  Walsh,  of  the  parish  of 
St.  Mary-le-Strand,  in  our  said  county  of  Middlesex,  to 
print  and  publish  the  same  ;  and  hath,  therefore,  humbly 
besought  us  to  grant  our  royal  privilege  and  license  to 
the  said  John  Walsh,  for  the  sole  engraving,  printing, 
and  publishing  the  said  works,  for  the  term  of  fourteen 
years;  we,  being  willing  to  give  all  due  encouragement 
to  works  of  this  nature,  are  graciously  pleased  to  conde- 
scend to  his  request :  and  we  therefore,"  etc. 

John  Walsh  was,  undoubtedly,  the  greatest  musical 
publisher  of  the  eighteeiith  century.  Biographers  do 
not  say  any  thing  about  him,  yet  there  are  few  men 
whose  names  have  been  more  frequently  printed  than 
his.  His  father,  whose  name  also  was  John,  published 
Arsino'e  in  1705,  and  settled  in  Catherine-street,  Strand, 
where  their  immense  establishment  long  remained.  He 
was  printer  to  Queen  Anne.*  The  son  died  on  the  15th 
of  January,  176G,   worth  £40,000, f   which  was  not  all 

*  "  Songs  in  the  Opera  called  Arsino'e.  London  :  Printed  for  J.  Walsh, 
servant  to  Her  Majesty,  at  ye  Golden  Harp  and  Hoboy,  in  Katherine 
Street,  near  Somerset  House,  in  the  Strand.'' 

t  "  January  \hth^  died,  Mr.  John  Walsh,  the  most  eminent  music- 
seller  in  the  kingdom.    .    .    .    January  21st,  Mr.  John  Walsh  was  in- 


WALSH    THE    PUBLISHER.  115 

gained  in  the  most  honorable  manner.  In  the  article 
"  Geminiani,"  of  the  Musical  Biograplnj^  we  find : — 
"  Geminiani's  op.  2  (MS.)  had  been  surreptitiously  ob- 
tained by  Walsh,  who  was  about  to  print  it ;  but  think- 
ing it  would  be  benefited  by  the  corrections  of  the 
author,  he  gave  him  the  altei-native,  either  of  correcting 
it,  or  submitting  it  to  appear  with  its  faults  before  the 
world.  Geminiani  rejected  the  insulting  offer  with  the 
contempt  it  deserved,  and  instituted  a  process  in  Chan- 
cery for  an  injunction  against  the  sale  of  the  book. 
Walsli  compounded  the  matter  with  him,  and  the  work 
was  published  under  the  inspection  of  the  author.  The 
opera  Terza  he  sold  to  Walsh,  who,  in  his  advertise- 
ments, gave  the  public  to  understand  that  he  came  hon- 
estly by  the  copy." 

It  is  undeniable  that  Walsh  pirated  all  the  works  of 
Handel  which  did  not  belong  to  him.  These  piracies 
are  anonymous,  but  there  is  no  doubt  that  he  was  the 
culprit ;  for  the  plates  are  to  be  found  in  the  subsequent 
publications  of  the  same  works  to  which  he  attached  his 
name  when  his  arrangements  with  the  author  gave  him 
a  right  to  do  so. 

This  man  published  an  immense  number  of  works,  but 
without  care,  without  taste,  and  without  the  smallest 
scintilla  of  artistic  spirit.  It  will  be  seen  by  the  "  Cata- 
logue," that  he  made  the  most  horrible  mixtures  with 
his  plates,  and  that  he  employed  them,  in  turn,  in  many 
different  collections.  He  was  like  an  apothecary,  who 
mixes  up  all  sorts  of  ingredients  to  obtain  something  good 
— to  sell ;  and  he  would  have  shaken  up  together  the 
five  books  of  Moses,  if  he  had  supposed  that  the  public 
were  likely  to  buy  one  copy  more.  This  may  be  seen  in 
his  "  Delizie  del'  opera,"  into  which  he  interpolated  the 
"  Stabat  Mater"  of  Pergoleso,  and  the  "  Salve  Rogina" 
of  Hasse.     Many  of  the  airs  in  his  editions  of  Handel 

terred  with  ^reat  funeral  pomp  at  St.  Mary's  tlie  Strand.  It  is  said  he 
died  worth  £40,000."— PwWio  Advertiser^  1766. 


lie  LIFE     OF    HANDEL. 

have  almost  as  many  cipliers  of  pagination  as  harlequin's 
coat  has  colors.  Those  of  Sosarme  have  as  many  as 
four^  three  at  the  top  and  one  at  the  bottom  ;  proving 
that  they  had  ah'eady  been  used  in  three  other  collec- 
tions before  they  formed  part  of  the  complete  edition. 
The  two  books  of  "Favorite  Songs  in  Pastor  Fido,-' 
Avhich  appeared  in  1734,  are  curious  specimens  of  this 
kind  of  medley.  After  pages  1  to  10  there  is  a  series  of 
1  to  6  ;  the  following  page  has  no  number ;  then  come  7 
and  8,  and  then  23,  24,  25,  26  ;  then  no  number ;  then  2 
and  3;  then  113  and  114;  then  15  and  18,  and  so  on! 
The  fact  is,  that  out  of  the  sixteen  pieces  which  are  in- 
cluded in  these  two  books,  only  eight  belong  to  the  work 
w^hose  title  they  bear  ;  the  rest  are  from  Ezio^  JRicardo^ 
and  JxodeUnda.  Those  taken  from  Ezio  still  bear  upon 
the  margin  the  names  of  Onoria  and  of  Fulvia,  person- 
ages belonging  to  Ezio,  These  books  contain,  however, 
all  that  has  ever  .been  published  of  Handel's  Pastor 
Fido  1  There  are  copies  of  Esther  which  oifer  a  still 
more  extraordinary  medley,  and  one  is  really  astonished 
that  a  publisher  should  have  had  so  little  regard  for  him- 
self for  his  author,  and  for  the  public* 

*  The  overture,  which  is  paginated  161,  proceeds  regularly  up  to  167, 
and  then  comes  page  8,  "  Breathe  soft,"  without  a  title,  without  prelude, 
and  without  orchestration  ;  then  pages  11 — 44,  where  is,  "  "Watchful 
Angels,"  headed  "  Delorah  ;"  afterward,  "  '  Endless  Fame,'  sung  by  Sig- 
nxora  Stnida  /"  paginated  on  the  first  plate,  72 — 41 ;  on  the  second,  42 — 73 ; 
on  the  third,  74 — 43  ;  and  on  the  fourth,  44 — 75.  The  same  air  reappears 
in  the  hook  of  "  The  Most  Favorite  Songs  in  Deborah,''''  paginated  12,  13, 
14,  and  15;  but  always  "  sung  by  Signora  Strada,"  although  it  belongs 
to  the  part  of  Ahasuerus.  Afterward,  page  (9) — 48,  "  '  Tune  your  harps,' 
sung  by  Signora  Strada."  The  plates  of  "  Tune  your  harps,"  and  of 
*'  Praise  the  Lord,"  were  those  engraved  for  "  The  Most  Celebrated 
Songs  in  EstTter  f  they  bear  the  numbers  9  and  12  in  this  anterior  pub- 
lication, the  pagination  of  which  is  bracketed.  In  page  51 — (12)  is 
"  '  Praise  the  Lord,'  sung  by  Signora  Strada,  Mrs.  Eobinson,  and  Mrs. 
Davis" — three  names  for  a  single  air !  Further  on  we  find,  at  page 
32 — 69,  "When  the  sun  o'er  yonder  hills,"  and  at  page  14 — 60,  "  Sacred 
Eaptures" — both  pieces  from  Solonvin,  which  was  produced  in  1748 ! 
The  heading  of  "  So  much  beauty"  is  an  enigma,  which  may  be  sub- 
joined for  the  amusement  of  the  ingenious : 


PATCH-WOKK    EDITIONS.  117 

These  things  have  seemed  to  me  to  be  worthy  of  re- 
mark, for  they  prove  how  little  confidence  can  be  placed 
in  the  publications  of  Walsh  ;  they  show  how  the  works 
of  Handel  were  printed  in  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  when  he  was  living,  under  his  own  eyes,  and 
even  upon  the  theater  of  his  glory.  They  must,  never- 
tlieless,  have  brought  very  great  profit  to  the  publisher, 
for  there  are  very  few  of  his  operas  which  have  not  been 
pirated.  Alexander  and  Scijyio  were  engraved  at  one 
and  the  same  time  by  Cluer,  by  Walsh,  and  by  Meares. 

It  should  also  be  observed  that,  with  the  exception  of 
Alexcmder^s  Feast  and  o^  Acis^  not  one  of  Walsh's  books 
contains  any  thing  but  airs  and  duets.  He  seems  to  have 
been  afflicted  very  severely  with  a  species  of  choropho- 
hia  ;  for,  during  the  whole  of  his  long  career  as  a  mu- 
sical publisher,  he  did  not  pubhsh  ten  choruses. 

The  composers  of  the  eighteenth  century  did  not 
attach  sufficient  importance  to  the  publication  of  their 
works.  They  left  them  to  merchants  to  make  the  best 
market  of  them.  With  the  exception  of  Alexander's 
Feast^  there  is  not  a  single  complete  score  by  Handel 
belonging  to  this  epoch  ;  even  those  which  are  "  published 
by  the  author,"   and  to  which  he  has  thus  given  the 

"16.  Deborah.  91. 

'  Flowing  Joys,' 

Sung  by  Siga  Strada." 

"  So  much  beauty"  belongs  to  the  part  of  Mordecai ;  and  certainly 
Signora  Strada,  a  high  soprano,  could  never  have  attempted  it  in  her 
MfQ.  But  why  "  Deborah"  at  the  head  of  the  air  in  Esther  f  and  what 
is  the  meaning  of  that  species  of  memorandum — "  Flowing  Joys  ?" 

I  have  found  an  air,  "  Flowing  Joys,"  interpolated  in  the  Second  Act 
of  Judas  Ilaccaicevs^  in  the  MS.  collection  which  belonged  to  Smith.  It  is 
very  clear  that  it  did  not  originally  form  part  of  the  copy,  but  has  since 
been  added  ;  but  what  connection  it  can  have  with  Walsh's  plate  is  still 
a  mystery.  It  does  not  appear  in  any  book  of  Esther  or  of  Deborah  ;  and, 
besides,  there  is  nothing  in  it  to  make  it  at  all  worthy  of  its  presumed 
author.  It  is  to  be  found  in  a  book  of  Jadas  Maccalceus,  with  many 
other  strange  airs  ;  and  this  book  belongs,  without  a  doubt,  to  tlie  epoch 
when  the  inheritor  of  Handel's  MSS.  was  making  in  them  some  very 
disrespectful  interpolations. 


118  LIFE    OF    HANDEL. 

guaranty  of  his  name,  have  many  omissions  more  or 
less  important.  Hadainisto,  for  example,  which  was 
notoriously  corrected  by  himself,  has  not  the  quartette, 
"  O  cedere  o  perir."  In  fact,  the  operas,  above  all,  may 
be  regarded  as  almost  unedited  ;  for  there  is  not  one  in 
which  the  recitatives  have  not  been  suppressed,  and  also 
the  greater  part  of  the  accompaniment  —  not  one  in 
which  large  and  deplorable  excisions  have  not  been  ef- 
fected. The  Alessandro,  published  by  Cluer,  in  1726, 
for  example,  lacks  not  less  than  thirteen  pieces.  Of 
Ariodante,  Pastor  Fido^  Muzio^  and  Hymen^  there  are 
nothing  but  books  of  "Favorite  Songs."*  Society  being 
not  yet  sufficiently  interested  in  scientific  knowledge  to 
be  able  to  count  upon  the  interest  which  a  complete 
score  would  excite,  they  did  not  print  more  than  would 
be  required  by  amateurs  who  sang  to  the  harpsichord. 
It  was  in  the  copies  by  hand  that  the  composer  deposited 
the  whole  of  his  ideas ;  and  this  explains  the  value  set 
upon  those  which  were  made  by  Christopher  Smith ; 
and  we  can  understand  how  it  was  that  Walsh,  in  spite 
of  the  jumble  which  he  made  of  his  publications,  re- 
mained to  the  end  Handel's  publisher.  It  should  be 
added  that,  however  great  may  be  our  indignation 
against  him,  his  editions  contain  a  certain  number  of 
pieces  which  can  not  possibly  be  found  either  at  Buck- 
ingham Palace  or  in  any  of  Smith's  copies.  These  were 
probably  called  for  by  some  fortuitous  circumstance 
during  the  rehearsals,  composed  upon  the  spot,  and  sent 
to  the  printer  before  Handel  had  the  time,  or  took  the 
trouble,  to  add  them  to  the  manuscript.  It  would  be 
impossible,  therefore,  without  collating  Walsh's  publica- 
tions with  the  original  MSS.,  to  furnish  a  really  complete 
edition  of  Handel's  works. 

*  Amadis,  Jupiter  in  Argos,  the  serenata  Parnasso  in  Festa,  the  ora- 
torio Trionfo  del  Tempo^  and  the  masque  Terpsichore^  althoucfh  produced 
at  London,  have,  nevertheless,  remained  entirely  unpublished;  bo  also 
have  anterior  works,  Roderlgo,  Sylla^  tlie  German  Passion^  the  Italian 
serenata,  Aci  e  Galatea,  and  a  great  quantity  of  church  music. 


THE     OPERA     OF     "PORUS."  119 

And  now,  having  sufficiently  discussed  these  minor 
details,  let  us  return  to  Handel's  public  life.  Partlienope^ 
wliich  Barney  declares  to  be  one  of  the  finest  dramatic 
Ijroductions  of  the  author,  enjoyed  only  seven  perform- 
ances, and  Lothario  could  obtain  no  move  than  ten. 
Handel  was  of  opinion  that  the  cause  of  this  was  the 
want  of  a  leading  singer  in  his  company,  and  he  deter- 
mined to  procure  one.  Thanks  to  the  English  minister  at 
Florence,  he  was  able  to  persuade  Senesino  to  return, 
who  had  been  singing  in  Venice  since  his  departure 
from  England.* 

Senesino,  who  had  been  obtained  at  the  price  of  four- 
teen hundred  guineas,  made  his  roappeai-aiice  on  the  2d 
of  February,  1731,  in  Porus^  which  had  fifteen  consecu- 
tive representations.  It  has  been  already  stated  that 
this  was  a  great  success.  The  reprint  in  1736  is  marked 
"fourth  edition."  The  poem  should  be  highly  interest- 
ing, judging  only  from  the  distribution  of  the  parts  : — 
"  Porus,  King  of  India,  in  love  with  Cleofida ;  Cleofida, 
Queen  of  another  part  of  India,  in  love  with  Porus; 
Gandartes,  Porus's  General,  in  love  witli  Eiissena,  sister 
of  Porus;  Erissena,  promised  to  Gendnites  ;  Alexander, 
the  Macedonian  king;  Timagenes,  Alexander's  general 
and  favorite,  but  secretly  his  enemy."  This  was  how 
Porus  and  Alexander  occupied  themselves  at  the  Hay- 
market  in  1731.  The  French  opera  of  the  eighteenth 
century  was  essentially  mythological.  Castor  and  Pol- 
lux, Proserpine,  Paris  and  the  Apple  of  Discord,  Perseus 
Phceto,  Psyche,  and  Hebe,  filled  all  the  parts  ;  but  the 
Italian  opera,  on  the  other  hand,  was  exclusively  royalist. 
In  all  the  poems,  with  names  ending  in  o  or  in  a,  belong- 
ing to  that  epoch,  we  find  only  kings,  queens,  princes, 
and  princesses;  the  most  insignilicant  personages  are 
generals — for  how  shall  there  be  kings  without  armies? 
When,  for  the  sake  of  variety,  a  shepherdf  or  a  pirate  is 

*  See  Appendix  Gr. 

t  Great  Britain,  in  tlie  eighteenth  century,  was  quite  as  much  infested 


120  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

introduced,  it  is  always  some  brother  of  the  king  or 
queen,  who  has  been  stolen  from  his  cradle,  and  who  re- 
covers liis  rank  at  the  end  of  the  third  act,  when  he  mar- 
ries a  princess  who  adored  him  under  his  shepherd's  garb. 
Sometimes,  as  in  Ptolemy^  the  king  and  queen  them- 
selves have  been  brouglit  down  to  the  crook,  and  the 
three  acts  are  employed  in  restoring  them  to  their 
thrones,  very  much  to  the  disgust  of  their  sheep,  who 
are  jealous  at  seeing  themselves  slighted  in  favor  of  a 
biped  flock. 

Ninety-nine  times  out  of  a  hundred,  it  is  the  king  of 
some  place,  frequently  of  Cyprus,  who  loves  the  princess 
of  some  other  place,  not  uncommonly  of  Thrace,  while 
the  princess,  for  her  part,  is  in  love  either  with  an  em- 
peror or  the  captain  of  the  guard  ;  add  to  these  a  tyrant 
or  a  traitor,  or  a  little  old  high-priest,  who  opposes  the 
wishes  of  the  lovers,  and  you  have  the  entire  "  drama  per 
la  musica"  of  London.  Love  must  indeed  be  the  most  nat- 
ural, the  most  profound,  the  most  universal,  the  most  in- 
defatigable, the  most  inexhaustible,  the  most  unconquer- 
able, and  the  most  insatiable  passion  to  which  the  human 
heart  is  subject,  since  meji  are  never  wearied  with  the 
millions  of  intrigues  which  have  been  exhibited  upon  the 
stage  during  the  past  three  thousand  years.      From  u35s- 

as  France  with,  shepherds  and  shepherdesses.  Out  of  these  very  tribes 
alone,  an  army  equal  to  the  invasion  of  Eussia  might  have  been  levied 
among  those  bearing  the  name  of  Thyrsis,  and  the  young  ladies  called 
Amaryllis  were  suflBcient  to  people  the  deserts  of  Arabia.  But  the  man- 
ners of  the  age  were  not  less  barbarous  on  that  account ;  and  the  laws, 
the  faithful  mirror  of  society,  were  still  characterized  by  an  unheard  of 
ferocity ;  as  witness  this  paragraph  from  the  Daily  Courant  of  the  10th 
of  June,  1731 : — "  Joseph  Crook,  alias  Sir  Peter  Stranger,  stood  in  the 
pillory  at  Charing  Cross  for  forging  a  deed,  and  after  he  had  stood  an 
hour,  a  chair  was  brought  to  the  pillory  scaffold,  in  which  he  was  placed, 
and  the  hangman  with  a  pruning-knife  cut  off  both  his  ears,  and  with  a 
pair  of  scissors  slit  both  his  nostrils,  all  which  he  bore  with  much  pa- 
tience ;  but  when  his  right  nostril  was  seared  with  a  hot  iron,  the  pain 
was  so  violent  he  could  not  bear  it ;  whereupon  his  left  nostril  was  not 
seared,  but  he  was  carried  bleeding  to  a  neighboring  tavern.  He  is  sen- 
tenced to  be  imprisoned  for  life." 


SLEEPY    CHARACTERS.  121 

chylus  to  M.  Scribe,  the  Indian  and  Chinese  dramatists 
inchided,  there  are  probably  not  fifty  dramatic  works,  be 
they  comedies,  tragedies,  fiirces,  ballets,  or  pantomimes, 
which  are  not  founded  upon  a  happy  or  an  unhappy 
amour.  It  wouhl  be  a  curious  subject  of  calculation  to 
reckon  up  the  thirty  or  forty  thousand  marriages  which 
thus  take  place  every  evening  in  the  different  quarters 
of  the  globe. 

And  while  upon  the  subject  of  poems,  it  may  be  ob- 
served that  of  all  those  which  Handel  composed  music 
to,  there  are  scarcely  any  in  which  some  one  or  other  of 
the  principal  personages  does  not  fall  asleep  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  audience ;  Amadis,  Rinaldo,  Ptolemy,  Ad- 
metus,  Justin,  Orlando  ;  Mirtillo  in  Pastor  Fldo^  Teseo 
in  Ariadne^  Rossane  in  Floridcmte^  Arsace  in  Parthe- 
nope^  Grimoaldo  in  Rodelinda^  Ginevra  in  Ariodante^ 
and  Poppea  in  Agrippina^  all  take  their  httle  nap.  This 
narcotic  influence  is  so  strong,  that  Cleopatra  in  Julius 
C(Bsm\  although  perfectly  awake,  pretends  to  be  asleep 
in  order  not  to  disappoint  the  audience.  This  strange 
malady  is  even  observable  in  the  oratorios.  In  Solo- 
mon^ the  king  and  queen,  after  having  inaugurated  the 
Temple  of  Jerusalem,  sing  a  very  tender  amorous  duet, 
and  straightway  retire  to  sleep  before  the  double  chorus 
of  priests  and  people,  who,  being  doubtless  great  fre- 
quenters of  the  opera,  hold  this  to  be  very  natural,  and 
begin  praying  to  the  Greek  zephyrs  of  some  centuries 
subsequent,  to  prolong  their  repose — "  Ye  Zephyrs,  soft 
breathing,  their  slumbers  prolong."  Nothing  short,  in- 
deed, of  Handel's  music  could  reconcile  the  public  to 
such  a  bad  example. 

About  the  same  time  that  Porus  was  produced,  Bode- 
linda  was  revived  for  the  second  time,  and  for  the  fourth 
or  fifth  time  the  fine  score  of  Rmcddo^  "  revived  with 
many  additions  by  the  author,"  according  to  the  book 
of  1721.  The  advertisement  in  the  Daily  Journal  of 
the  2d  of  April  bears  witness  that,  as  manager  of  the 

6 


122  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

theater,  he  incurred  great  expense  for  the  inise-en-schie  : 
— "  Jivialdo,  with  new  scenes  and  eloathes.  Great 
preparations  being  made  to  bring  this  opera  on  the  stage, 
is  the  reason  that  no  opera  can  be  performed  before 
Sa,turday  next." 

Handel  never  did  things  by  halves,  and  he  only  stop- 
ped short  when  honor  compelled  him  to.  A  man  miglit 
ruin  himself  with  such  a  temperament ;  but  he  could  ac- 
complish many  noble  things. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  following  season,  that  is 
to  say,  on  the  25th  of  January,  1732,  ^tius  (or  Ezio)^ 
a  new  opera,  was  sung  by  Senesino,  Montagnana  (who 
was  not  less  celebrated),  and  Signoro  Strada,  who  has 
left  behmd  her  a  name  in  theatrical  annals.  In  spite, 
however,  of  such  support,  and  of  its  great  musical  merit, 
^tius'w^i^  only  represented  five  times.  Handel  was 
obliged  to  give  Sosarme  a  month  afterward,  on  the  15th 
of  February,  1732.  It  makes  one  shudder  to  perceive 
the  insatiable  selfishness  with  which  the  public,  in  its  rage 
after  novelty,  mercilessly  exhausts  the  genius  of  the  com- 
poser. Sosanne  was  more  fortunate  than  yUtius^  but 
scarcely  so  much  so  as  it  deserved  to  be. 

When  Handel  was  sufifering  both  as  an  artist  and  as  a 
manager,  a  circumstance  quite  independent  of  his  own 
free  will  brought  him  a  moment's  respite.  His  first 
English  oratorio,  Esther^  was  entombed,  as  it  were,  at 
Cannons,  and  he  had  never  dreamt  of  offering  it  to  the 
public;  but  on  the  23d  of  February,  1731,  Bernard 
Gates,  the  master  of  the  children  at  the  Chapel  Royal 
of  St.  James's,  having  obtained  a  copy  of  the  score, 
caused  it  to  be  executed  by  his  pupils.  John  Randall 
(who  died  a  doctor  and  professor  of  the  university  of 
Cambridge  in  1799),  performed  the  part  of  Esther.^ 
The  orchestra  was  composed  of  amateurs  belonging  to  a 
society  called  the  Philharmonic  Society.  Shortly  after- 
ward the  Academy  of  Ancient  Music,  assisted  by  Gates, 
*  Bumey. 


"ESTHER"     PUBLICLY     PERFORMED.  123 

executed  it  upon  a  larger  scale,  but  still  in  a  private  man- 
ner. The  vocal  part  was  confided  to  the  chorus  of  the 
Chapel  Royal,  and  the  instrumental  part  was  performed 
by  the  members  of  the  academy.* 

These  two  attempts  could  not  take  place  without  mak- 
ing some  noise  in  the  musical  world,  and  their  success 
determined  a  speculator  to  have  the  oratorio  publicly 
performed.  It  is  thus  announced  in  the  Daily  Journal 
of  the  I'Zth  of  April,  1732  : — "  Never  performed  in  pub- 
lic. At  the  great  rooms  of  Yillars-street,  York  Build- 
ings, on  Thursday,  the  20th  of  this  instant  April,  will  be 
performed,  by  the  best  vocal  and  instrumental  music, 
Esther^  an  oratorio,  or  sacred  drama,  as  it  was  originally 
composed  for  the  most  noble  James  Duke  of  Chandos, 
by  George  Frederick  Handel.  Each  ticket,  five  shil- 
lings." 

Handel,  whether  he  had  the  power  to  do  so  or  not, 
made  no  opposition  when  others  used  his  music  (so  to 
speak),  at  his  very  doors  ;  he  simply  took  means  to  par- 
ticipate in  the  profits,  if  there  were  any.  On  the  19th 
of  April,  when  the  Villars-street  gentry  repeated  their 
advertisement  in  the  Daily  Journal^  adding,  "  the  words 
by  Mr.  Pope,"f  and  appointing  the  performance  for  the 
next  day,  the  following  advertisement  appeared  by  the 
side  thereof: — 

"  By  His  Ilajesty^s  Command. 

"At  the  King's  Theatre  in  the  Haymarket,  on  Thurs- 
day, the  2d  of  May,  will  be  performed  the  sacred  story 
of  Esther ;  an  oratorio  in  English,  formerly  composed 
by  Mr.  Handel,  and  now  revised  by  him,  with   several 

♦  An  Account  of  the  Academy  of  Ancient  Music,  page  79.  This  Acad- 
emy executed  other  complete  oratorios  by  Handel.  In  "  The  Words  of 
such  Pieces  as  are  most  usually  performed  by  the  Academy  of  Ancient 
Music;"  Jirst  edition,  1761,  second  edition,  1768,  may  be  found,  '''■  Acis,  a 
Masque;  Alexanders  Feast;  Israel  in  Egypt  (in  two  acts);  rAlkgro, 
and  The  Messiahy  There  is  also  at  the  British  Museum  a  book  of  Saul, 
dated  1740,  "  printed  for  the  Academy  of  Music." 

t  Pope  never  denied  the  assertion  which  attributed  Gay's  poem  to  him. 


l24  LIFE    OP    HANDEL. 

additions,  and  to  be  performed  by  a  great  number  of 
voices  and  instruments.  N.  B. — There  will  be  no  acting 
on  the  stage,  but  the  house  will  be  fitted  up  in  a  decent 
maimer  for  the  audience.  The  music  to  be  disposed  after 
the  manner  of  the  Coronation  Service.  Tickets  to  be 
delivered  at  the  same  price." 

The  "By  His  Majesty's  Command"  is  another  proof 
that  George  the  Second  openly  supported  Handel.  He 
attended  the  first  performance,  accompanied  by  all  the 
royal  family.  "  Last  night,"  says  the  Daily  Courant^ 
"their  majesties,  the  Prince  of  Wales,  and  the  three 
eldest  princesses,  went  to  the  Opera  House  in  the  Hay- 
market,  and  smo  a  performance  called  Esther^  an  orato- 
rio." The  journalists  of  the  eighteenth  century  always 
discovered  some  such  elegance  in  expressing  what  they 
had  to  communicate. 

The  success  of  this  experiment  was  complete.  The 
little  MS.  of  Colman  mentions  that  in  the  month  of  May, 
1732,  ''''Hester^  an  English  oratorio,  was  performed  six 
times,  and  very  full."  The  Villars-street  speculators  ap- 
pear to  have  been  unable  to  contend  against  such  suc- 
cess, for  nothing  more  is  to  be  heard  of  them  after  their 
attempt  of  the  20th  of  May. 

This  oratorio,  w^hich  was  sung  in  English  by  the  prin- 
cipal members  of  the  Italian  company  (S^.  Strada,  S*. 
Bertolli,  Montagnana,  and  Senesino),  remained  in  high 
favor  with  the  public.  I  have  a  book  of  it,  dated  1733, 
which  is  inscribed  (though  perhaps  not  truthfully)  "  fourth 
edition."  The  author  had  made  considerable  additions 
to  the  score  of  1720.* 

The  year  1732  is,  therefore,  the  date  of  a  great  event 
in  the  history  of  music.  Hitherto  England  only  knew 
oratorios  by  name.  It  was  the  first  time  that  the  public 
had  heard  a  work  of  that  nature,  and  it  showed  itself 
immediately  sensible  of  its  excellencies.  It  was  the 
applause  accorded  to  Esther  that  induced  Handel  to 
*  See  "  Catalogue." 


ORIGIN    OF    ORATORIOS.  125 

compose  other  oratorios;  and  here,  therefore,  is  the 
source  of  these  magniticent  works,  wliich  will  bear  his 
glory,  and  contribute  to  that  of  Great  Britain,  to  the  end 
of  time.* 

*  The  Mysteries,  or  Moralities,  in  wliich  dialogue  was  mingled  with 
psalms  and  hymns,  date  as  far  back  as  the  Middle  Ages,  and  belong  to 
an  epoch  whicli  can  not  be  precisely  determined.  These  took  a  certain 
regular  form  about  1540  or  1550.  St.  Philip  of  Neri,  founder  of  the 
Congregation  of  the  Oratorio  at  Rome,  in  1540,  wishing  to  turn  to  the 
account  of  religion  that  passion  for  theatrical  entertainments  which 
tempted  the  Italians  from  the  church,  and  above  all  during  the  carnival, 
conceived  the  idea  of  bringing  the  theater  into  the  church.  He  caused 
sacred  dramas  to  be  composed  ("drama  sacro"),  which  were  accompanied 
by  music  and  dances,  and  which  were  played  in  the  chapel  belonging  to 
his  order.  The  project  was  successful ;  the  people  hastened  to  enjoy  this 
gratuitous  amusement,  and  the  custom  became  general  in  all  the  cathe- 
drals. The  Sacred  Drama  of  an  entirely  religious  character,  which,  had 
replaced  the  Mystery,  in  which  profanity  was  mingled  with  religion,  re- 
mained, for  more  than  half  a  century,  a  poem  with  dialogue  spoken  and 
sung.  Burney  has  established,  in  a  much  more  satisfactory  manner 
than  Father  Menestrier,  the  origin  of  the  oratorio,  properly  called  sacred 
drama,  in  tvhich  even  the  dialogue  is  sung.  He  has  clearly  elucidated  the 
question  at  page  84  et  seq.  of  the  fourth  volume  of  his  History  of  Music. 
The  first  work  of  this  kind,  Anima  e  Corpo,  is  due  to  Emilio  del  Cava- 
liere,  and  was  represented  at  Eome  in  February,  1600,  in  the  church  of 
the  Oratorians,  Santa  Maria  della  Vallicella.  Emilio  had  already  at- 
tempted compositions  with  recitatives — that  is  to  say,  with  dialogue 
sung — in  two  pastorals,  II  Satira  and  the  Desperazione  de  Fileno,  privately 
executed  at  Florence  in  1590. 

Some  authors  derive  the  word  oratorio  directly  from  the  Latin  orare, 
to  pray :  but  this  appears  to  be  an  error.  The  new  religious  musical 
dramas  preserved  their  name  of  5acr6(i  dramas  ("dramo  sacro"')  until 
about  the  year  1G40,  when  Baldinucci,  who  died  in  1642,  wrote  two — La 
Fede,  which  was  founded  upon  Abraham's  sacrifice,  and  //  Trionfo,  which, 
was  on  the  coronation  of  the  Virgin,  both  in  two  acts.  He  it  was  who 
took  the  fjmcy  to  call  these  works  Oratorios,  because  they  bore  a  strong 
resemblance  to  the  performances  of  the  Fathers  of  the  Oratory ;  and  this 
title  became  gradually  substituted  for  that  of  sacred  drama,  and  has  been 
handed  down  to  these  days. 

That  the  oratorios  were  represented  on  stages,  which  were  erected  in 
tbe  churches  and  convents,  with  costumes,  decorations,  action,  oxi.^  danc- 
ing, there  can  not  be  the  slightest  doubt.  Emilio  del  Cavaliere,  or  his 
publisher,  at  the  commencement  of  his  printed  score,  gives  the  necessary 
instructions  for  the  scenes,  and  it  is  evident  that  choruses,  "  al'antique," 
accompanied  the  dances.  Catholicism  thus  lent  its  countenance  to 
mountebanks — as  foolish  people  are  in  the  habit  of  calling  actors — 


126  LIFE    OF    HANDEL. 

The  children  of  the  Chapel  Royal  of  St.  James's  had, 
in  their  innocence,  represented  Esther  "  with  action ;" 
but  Handel,  fearing  the  clamor  of  the  zealous,  conformed 
himself  to  the  Italian  custom,  and  gave  it  "  without  ac- 
tion." Tins  is  all  the  more  curious,  because  the  Esther 
of  1720,  played  by  the  children  of  the  Chapel  Royal  had 
scarcely  any  action  in  it ;  while  the  author,  in  retouching 
it,  seems  to  have  had  it  for  his  principal  object  to  bestow 
upon  it  a  dramatic  form  and  interest.  The  book,  divided 
"  into  acts  and  scenes,"  with  the  names  of  the  person- 
ages at  the  head  of  each  scene,  gives  it,  in  fact,  quite 
the  appearance  of  a  lyric  tragedy.  But  in  a  country 
where  the  Bible  is  so  revered,  it  could  not  be  suffered  that 
the  prophets  should  be  introduced  "  upon  the  boards." 
It  is  long  since  enlightened  minds  began  to  protest  against 
this  short-sightedness  in  matters  of  art.     The  Rev.  John 

while  tliey  sentenced  to  eternal  perdition  all  who  show  them  any  favor ; 
which  is,  after  all,  but  a  new  title  to  the  regard  of  honest  men.  It  is 
perfectly  certain  that  the  ecclesiastical  thunders  which  have  been  fulmi- 
nated against  ballets,  are,  relatively  speaking,  of  a  very  recent  date. 
Without  citing  the  example  of  David,  who  danced  before  the  ark,  I  have 
myself  seen  in  Mexico  (during  the  year  1829)  people  dancing  in  all  the 
churches  at  certain  festivals.  Groups  of  from  ten  to  twelve  persons, 
with  a  violin  or  a  guitar,  made  each  chapel  a  choreographic  station,  while 
the  monks  and  priests  looked  on.  This  was  evidently  a  traditional  form 
of  worship,  which  had  been  preserved  ever  since  the  conquest  of  Mexi- 
co. Father  Menestrier  says  that  he  has  seen  in  Spain,  on  Easter  Sunday, 
the  priests  taking  the  choristers  by  the  hand,  and  dancing  with  them  in 
the  choir,  while  they  sang  hymns  of  jubilation. 

About  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century,  oratorios  were  in  Italy  quite 
as  numerous  as  operas.  They  were  flayed  in  the  churches,  as  Esther  and 
Atlialia  (which  may  be  called  tragic  oratorios)  were  played  at  St.  Cyr,  in 
France.  The  sacred  did  battle  with  the  profane.  Gradually  these  enter- 
tainments were  only  given  during  Lent  and  the  Holy  Week,  as  a  recom- 
pense to  the  public  for  its  abstinence  from  the  theaters,  which  the 
ecclesiastical  power  was  potent  enough  to  close.  But  in  proportion  as 
religion  lost  its  empire,  it  adopted  severer  laws  in  order  to  maintain  an 
imposing  exterior.  Oratorios  were  first  banished  from  the  temples  ;  then 
the  people  going  always  to  them  as  to  a  theater,  the  theatrical  action  was 
suppressed,  and  so,  while  they  preserved  their  dramatic  forms  of  person- 
ages and  division  into  scenes  and  acts,  they  were  thenceforth  only  pei- 
formed  in  ordinary  costumes  ;  making  them,  in  fact,  a  kind  of  religious 
concert.    And  that  is  the  form  in  which  they  are  still  executed. 


CHARACTEE  OF  ORATOEIOS.       127 

Main  waring  himself  (although  very  far  from  being  of  a 
revolutionary  spirit)  said,  m  1760:* — "In  times  when 
narrow  notions  were  more  in  vogue,  and  when  even  men 
of  sense  were  governed  rather  by  appearance  than  by 
realities,  oratorios  would  not  have  been  tolerated.  In 
these  happier  days  the  influence  of  prejudice  was  not, 
indeed,  quite  strong  enough  to  exclude  these  noble  per- 
formances, yet  it  is  even  still  strong  enough  to  spoil 
them  ;  for,  are  not  the  very  same  arguments  which  pre- 
vailed for  admitting  oratorios,  sufficient  to  justify  the 
acting  them  ?  Would  not  action  and  gesticulation,  ac- 
commodated to  the  situation  and  sentiments,  joined  with 
dresses  conformable  to  the  characters  represented,  render 
the  representations  more  expressive  and  perfect,  and  con- 
sequently the  entertainment  much  more  rational  and 
improving  ?  Racine's  Esther  and  Athaliah^  set  by  Lulli, 
and  performed  at  the  convent  of  St.  Cyr,  by  order  of 
Madame  de  Maintenon,  had  all  the  advantages  of  theat- 
rical imitation.  Indeed,  the  best  performance,  if  properly 
dramatic,  without  the  helps  of  suitable  action  and  proper 
dresses,  must  needs  lose  a  considerable  j^art  of  that  force 
and  clearness,  that  life  and  spirit,  which  result  from  a  full 
and  perfect  exhibition.  Provided  no  improper  charac- 
tei-s  were  introduced  (a  thing  easy  to  be  obviated),  what 
other  inconvenience  could  possibly  result  from  the  fur- 
ther allowance  here  contended  for,  it  is  hard  to  imagine." 
Mainwaring  w^rote  his  book  precisely  one  year  after 
Handel's  death,  and  with  information  which  he  procured 
from  Christopher  Smith,  Handel's  secretary.  It  may  be, 
therefore,  that  these  reflections  are  the  echo  of  Handel's 
own  ophiion  upon  the  subject.  The  poems  of  the  greater 
part  of  his  oratorios  protest  loudly  against  the  restriction 
imposed,  for  they  are  written  from  quite  a  theatrical 
point  of  view.  JBelshazzcu\  although  its  sacred  character 
is  incontestable,  is  arranged  entirely  like  an  opera: — 
^^  Scene  1. — An  apartment  in  the  Palace.  Scene  2. — 
*  Page  128. 


128  LIFE    OF    HANDEL. 

The  Camp  of  Cyrus  before  Babylon  ;  a  View  of  the  City 
"Wall^,  a  River  running  through  it,  Seejie  3. — Daniel's 
House ;  Daniel  with  the  Prophecies  of  Isaiah  and  Jere- 
miah open  before  him.  Other  Jews.  Sceiie  4. — The 
palace.  Act  II.  Sce7ie  1. — The  Cauip  of  Cyrus  without 
the  City;  the  River  almost  empty.  Scene  1. — A  Ban- 
quet Room  adorned  with  the  Images  of  the  Babylonian 
Gods ;  Belshazzar,  his  Wives,  Concubines,  and  Lords, 
drinking  out  of  the  Jewish  Temple  vessels,  and  singing 
the  praises  of  their  gods ;  as  he  is  speaking,  a  hand 
appears  Tvriting  upon  the  wall  over  against  him ;  he  sees 
it,  turns  pale  with  fear,  drops  the  bowl  of  wine,  fiills 
back  in  his  seat,  trembling  from  head  to  foot  and  his 
knees  knocking  against  each  other,"  etc.,  etc. 

In  Joseph^  the  locality  and  situation  are  always  de- 
scribed : — "  Scene  1. — A  Prison  ;  Joseph  reclining  in  a 
melancholy  posture.  Scene  2. — A  Temple ;  the  High 
Priest  joining  the  hands  of  Joseph  and  Asenath  at  the 
altar,"  etc.  So  in  Samson  : — "  Scene^  before  the  prison 
in  Gaza.  Act  I.  Scene  1. — Samson,  blind  and  in  chains; 
chorus  of  Priests  of  Dagon  celebrating  his  festival."  In 
Deborah: — "  Part  I.  Scene  1. — Deborah,  Barak,  Israelite 
Officers,  and  Chorus  of  Israelite  Priests.  Part  II.  Scene 
1. — A  grand  military  symphony  ;  enter  Deborah  and 
Barak,  with  the  victorious  army  of  the  Israelites."  In 
Jephtha^  Hamor  is  described  in  the  cast  as  "  in  love  with 
Iphis."  Xo  two  lovers  in  comedy  say  more  tender  things 
to  each  other  than  Michal  and  David  in  Saul: 


Michael. — A  father's  will  has  authorized  my  love. 
No  longer,  Miclial,  then  attempt  to  hide 
The  secret  of  thy  soul.    I  love  thee,  David^ 
And  long  have  loved.    Thy  virtue  was  the  cause ; 
And  that  be  my  defense. 

'  David. — 0  lovely  maid !  thy  form  beheld, 

Above  all  beauty  charms  our  eyes ; 
Yet  still  within  that  form  concealed, 
Thy  mind,  a  greater  beauty,  lies." 


ORATORIOS    IN    ACTION.  129 

In  Joshua.,  Caleb  promises  his  dangliter  Acbsah  to 
whoever  shall  take  the  city  of  Debir.  "  The  city  is 
thine,"  cries  Othniel :  • 

"Place  clanger  around  mo 
The  storm  I'll  despise  : 
What  arms  shall  confound  me, 
When  Achsah's  the  prize  ?" 

Is  not  this  but  the  echo  of  the  Cid,  going  to  fight  with 
Don  Sanche  for  Chimene  ? 

"  Paraissez  Navarrois,  Maures  et  Castillans, 
Et  tout  ce  que  L'Espagne  a  nourri  de  vaillants ; 
Unissez-vous  ensemble  et  faites  un  armee 
Pour  combattre  une  main  de  la  sorte  animee." 

In  spite,  however,  of  their  loving  words,  their  dramatic 
instructions,  and  their  directions  for  the  mise-en-schie^ 
these  oratorios  were  never  played,  and  as  sacred  dramas 
they  were  never  intended  to  be ;  but  the  force  of  cir- 
cumstances carried  away  both  the  author  and  the  com- 
poser. 

Now  that  the  artists  appear  in  evening  dress,  the  same 
singer  has  often,  for  economical  reasons,  several  parts  to 
support.  This  was  already  the  case  in  Handel's  time. 
Thus,  according  to  the  book  of  Susannah.,  Reinhold  sang 
two  parts  which  were  diametrically  opposed  to  each 
other — that  of  the  virtuous  Chelsias,  and  one  of  the 
elders,  and,  perhaps,  also  the  judge,  to  whom  no  name  is 
given.  On  the  MS.  of  Samson.,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
names  of  Mrs.  Clive  and  of  Signora  Avoglio  are  attached 
to  the  part  of  the  woman.  This  is  one  of  the  vices  of 
these  representations,  in  which  the  artists  are  seated ;  for 
it  is  impossible  to  recognize  the  personages,  and  one  is 
apt  to  become  confused  in  seeing  several  parts  filled  by 
one  man,  or  a  single  part  divided  between  two  women, 
and  thus  one  loses  most  of  the  dramatic  intentions  of  the 
composer,  and  it  is  no  longer  an  oratorio  that  one  hears, 
but  a  concert.  This  system  is  unfavorable  to  Handel 
6* 


130  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

more  tlian  to  any  other  composer,  because  he,  more  than 
any  other — Mozart  alone  excepted — has  given  musically 
to  each  part  its  proper  character. 

An  oratorio  is  intended  to  represent,  musically,  a  cer- 
tain episode  in  the  Scriptures,  and  why  not,  therefore, 
represent  it  in  reality  ?  Strange  contradiction !  Devo- 
tees permit  every  dauber  to  paint  the  countenance  of 
Christ,  to  dress  him  and  to  exhibit  him  in  the  most 
solemn  actions  of  his  life  ;  they  do  not  object  when  he 
gives  him  a  face  after  his  own  whim,  or  when  he  makes 
him  act,  as  it  were,  upon  the  canvas ;  but  when  it  be- 
comes a  question  of  making  Deborah  and  Samson  act  in 
the  flesh  and  blood,  they  cover  their  faces  with  their 
hands  in  pious  horror.  Is  it  because  the  artists  who 
would  play  in  an  oratorio  are  not  of  the  number  of  the 
elect  ?  But  these  are  the  very  artists  who  actually  sing 
the  oratorios.  In  good  truth  there  seems  to  be  no  suf- 
ficient reason  for  such  contradictions  ;  it  is  as  if  the  want 
of  sincerity  in  religious  matters  would  pass  itself  off  for 
being  truly  religious  by  taking  from  the  oratorio  its 
form,  its  light  and  shade — in  a  word,  its  physical  life.  In 
the  times  of  the  Mysteries^  when  J;here  were  real  and  sin- 
cere believers,  such  scruples  w^ere  unheard  of.* 

*  Mr.  Kophino  Lacy,  from  his  admiration  of  Handel,  once  conceived  tlie 
design  of  restoring  to  iiis  oratorios  all  their  dramatic  force,  by  represent- 
ing them  witli  costumes.  As  a  means  of  feeling  his  way,  he  brought  out 
at  Covent  Garden  Theater,  in  the  month  of  February,  1833,  the  Israelites 
in  Egi/2>t,  grounded  on  the  Mose  of  Eossini,  into  which  he  introduced 
choruses  from  I>^rael  in  Egypt^  with  tlieir  sacred  text.  For  my  part,  I  do 
not  approve  of  such  mixtures;  but  selections  were  agreeable  to  the  public 
taste  at  that  time.  In  my  opinion,  oratorios  ought  not.  to  be  transformed 
into  regular  dramas,  because,  in  that  case,  it  becomes  necessary  to  in- 
troduce into  them  foreign  elements.  These  great  works  must  be  left  as 
they  are,  forming,  as  they  do,  a  new  style,  a  thing  apart,  which  is  neither 
a  concert  nor  a  serious  opera.  In  fact,  they  should  be  given  in  all  their 
austerity,  only  with  costumes,  scenery,  and  acting;  thus  avoiding  the 
mistake  of  making  them  theatrical  pieces,  while  giving  them  all  the  ad- 
vantages of  the  stage.  This  bold  attempt  of  Mr.  Lacy  obtained  an  im- 
mense success.  The  public  went  to  Covent  Garden  without  being  in  any 
way  troubled  in  conscience.    The  queen  (then  the  Princess  Victoria)  and 


OPINIONS     OP    THE    JOUKNALS.  131 

But  while  we  wait  the  time  when  sincerity  an(t  q:ooc1 
sense  shall  prevail,  oratorios  are  executed  precisely  like 
concerts ;  the  singers  sit  upon  a  platform  before  the  or- 
chestra, rising  every  time  they  have  a  piece  to  sing. 
This  was  doubtless  so  in  the  beginning.  Colman,  in  his 
laconic  notes,  says  :   "  Hester^  an  opera,  singers  in  a  sort 

hei-  mother,  the  Duchess  of  Keut,  went  there  also,  iii  the  fall  persuasion 
that  they  were  not  committiug  any  sin.  Mr.  Lacy  then  preparjjd 
"  JcpJtQia^  by  Handel,  interspersed  with  various  admired  compositiona 
from  other  celebrated  oratorios  by  the  same  author."  Every  thing  was 
prepared,  the  posters  announced  the  fii-st  rej)resentation  for  the  I'Jth  of 
February,  1834  (tlie  first  Wednesday  in  Lent),  when  a  letter,  emanating 
from  young  Lord  Belfast,  who  had  succeeded  the  Duke  of  Devonshire  as 
Lord  Chamberlain,  caused  the  performance  to  be  prohibited.  The 
Bishop  of  London,  Dr.  Charles  James  Bloomfield,  had  inoculated  Queen 
Adelaide  with  his  pious  scruples,  and  the  Lord  Chamberlain  obeyed 
their  orders.  England  wished  for  oratorios  in  action — she  had  proved  it 
in  the  preceding  year ;  but  Queen  Adelaide  and  the  Bishop  of  Loudon 
opposed,  and  the  thing  became  impossible.  At  that  time  religious  con- 
certs were  given  during  Lent,  and  a  letter  inserted  in  the  Bispatcli,  and 
addressed  to  the  Bishop  of  London,  exposed  the  absurdity  of  his  scru- 
ples : — "You  object  to  sacred  music  per  se ;  but  if  mixed  up  with  a 
certain  quantity  of  the  prcfane,  you  are  perfectly  satisfied.  Acid  and 
alkali  are  dangerous  when  taken  sepamtely^  but  when  mixed  a  delicious 
beverage  for  souls  is  the  result !  Is  this  idiocy,  or  is  it  madues^s  ?  Is  it 
the  perfection  of  cant,  or  the  ne  plus  ultra  of  stolidity  ?  The  juxtapo- 
sition of  the  various  pieces  of  music  has  frequently  amused  mc,  and  I 
willingly  give  you  part  of  a  prograunne  which  reads  thus  : — '  Angels, 
ever  bright  and  fair;'  'Meet  me  by  moonlight  alone;'  '  Let  the  bright 
seraphim  ;'  '  March  to  the  battle-field  ;'  '  And  God  said  ;'  '  Whistle,  and 
I  '11  come  to  thee  my  lad.'  " 

All  the  journals  complained  in  the  same  tone  : — "  If  it  was  good  to 
sing  sacred  songs,  the  effect  on  the  mind  must  be  greatly  increased  when 
the  subjects  they  describe  are  embodied  and  represented  to  the  eye ;  be- 
sides which,  these  acts  are  before  us  in  a  regular  and  well-connected 
series,  and  not  subject,  as  formerly,  to  be  rendered  almost  ridiculous  by 
being  preceded  and  followed  by  songs  of  an  entirely  opposite  character 
— as,  '  I  know  that  my  Eedeemer  liveth,'  followed  by  'I  'd  be  a  butter- 
fly.' " 

According  to  another  journal  of  the  same  period — "It  was  a  novel  and 
bold  venture  to  dramatize  a  portion  of  the  Old  Testament  upon  the  Lon- 
don boards,  and  much  has  been,  and  more  will  be,  said  against  it.  But 
we  can  not  perceive  any  reasonable  objection  ;  for,  if  we  have  tolerated 
the  singing  of  the  spiritual  words  of  Israel  in  Efjypt^  surely  we  can  not 
object  to  the  heightening  their  effect  by  the  introduction  of  scenery, 


132  LIFE     or     HANDEL. 

of  gallery^  no  acting^  The  immense  orchestras  are 
spread  out  beliiiid  the  solo-singers  upon  an  amphitheater, 
flanked  by  the  choruses  to  left  and  right ;  and  the  organ 
at  the  extreme  back  dominates  over  all.  Formerly  the 
composer  directed  at  the  organ,  and  in  order  that  he 
might  have  the  orchestra  in  view,  a  key-board  was  con- 
structed in  front  which  communicated  with  the  instru- 
ment by  chains  some  twelve  or  fifteen  feet  long.  It  may 
be  observed,  in  parenthesis,  that  no  engraving  seems  to 
exist  which  represents  the  orchestra  of  an  oratorio  in 
Handel's  time.  At  the  present  day,  the  conductor  turns 
his  back  to  the  audience,  and  not  the  profile,  as  at  Paris. 
It  is  the  same  at  the  two  Philharmonic  Societies.  And 
this  is  a  new  proof  of  the  serious  love  which  the  English 
entertain  for  music.  In  this  country,  where  the  public  is 
always  treated  with  a  respect  almost  equal  to  that  which 
is  paid  to  the  queen,  this  arrangement  arouses  no  com- 
plaint. It  is  undei'stood  that  the  conductor  can  not  well 
dispense  with  having  a  good  view  of  all  who  are  under 
his  command,  and  that  all  must  be  able  to  see  him.  In 
this,  the  English  musical  public  does  not  resemble  the 
late  Sultan,  the  reformer  Mahmoud,  who  would  never 
enter  a  European  carriage  for  fear  of  seeing  the  coach- 
man's back. 

This  cold,  colorless,  and  inanimate  manner  of  produc- 
ing works  which,  after  all,  are  really  dramas,  takes  from 

costume,  and  action.  If  objectiouahle  it  be,  tlie  cliorus  of  '  He  gave 
them  hail-stones,'  is  as  objectionable  when  sung  by  men  and  women  in 
modern  costume,  standing  with  music-paper  in  their  hands  on  a  stage 
fitted  up  with  music-desks,  as  when  sung  with  action  by  some  individ- 
uals habited  as  ancient  Egyptians,  before  a  scene  representing  the  en- 
campment of  the  Midianites  without  the  walls  of  Memphis.  If  a  singer 
may  not  dress  and  act  as  Moses,  why  has  he  ever  been  allowed  to  sing  as 

Opinions  so  just  as  these  necessarily  became  popular ;  but  the  ora- 
torios in  action  were  none  the  less  suppressed,  being  attainted  and  con- 
victed of  having  wounded  the  religious  spirit  of  the  people.  It  is  true 
that,  as  some  compensation,  the  guardians  of  the  public  morals  permitted 
the  Beggarh  Opera  to  be  played  w'dli  costumes. 


"aOIS     and     GALATEA."  133 

tliein  much  of  their  effective  strength.  The  audience 
have  only  their  ears  to  assist  their  judgment ;  for  tliey  are 
deprived  of  the  assistance  of  their  eyes  in  arriving  at  a 
better  understanding  of  the  situation.  In  a  visual  sense 
they  are  like  a  blind  man  at  the  opera.  Art  loses  much 
by  this,  religion  gains  nothing.  People  go  to  oratorios 
only  for  pleasure,  precisely  as  they  go  to  concerts ;  and 
the  singers  in  the  orchestra  are,  after  all,  dressed  up  in 
ball  costume.  One  needs  only  to  see  the  ladies  with 
their  heads  covered  with  flowers,  and  their  dresses  fell- 
ing below  the  shoulders,  to  be  sure  that  their  ideas  are 
not  always  of  the  most  sacred  character. 

Acis  and  Galatea^  which,  as  well  as  Esther^  was  com- 
posed for  the  Duke  of  Chandos,  did  not  remain  forgot- 
ten for  quite  so  long  a  period.  In  the  Dally  Journal  of 
the  13th  of  March,  1731,  the  following  advertisement 
ajjtpeared  : 

"For  the  Benefit  of  M.  Mochetti^  at  Lincoln's  Inn 
Theater  Royal,  on  Friday,  2Gth,  will  be  represented  a 
pastoral,  called  Acis  and  Galatea^  composed  by  Mr. 
Handel.  Acis^  Mr.  Rochetti ;  Galatea^  Mrs.  Wright ; 
Folypheme^  Mr.  Leveridge  ;  Damon^  Mr..  Sal  way ;  Cori- 
don^  Mr.  Legar  ;  and  the  other  parts  by  Mrs.  Carter  and 
Mrs.  Papillon."  In  the  advertisement  of  the  26th  of 
March,  is  added — "  Mr.  Rochetti  will  sing  the  song  'Son 
Confusa  Pastorella,'  being  the  favorite  hornpipe  in  the 
opera  of  Poms''''  !  ! 

In  1731,  therefore,  Handel's  English  serenata  had 
been  performed,  and  even  with  additions  ;  for  Damon, 
Corydon,  and  "  the  other  parts  by  Mi's.  Carter  and  Mrs. 
Papillon,"  are  not  in  the  MS.  of  1721.  It  would  be  in- 
teresting to  know  of  what  the  Acis  of  1731  was  com- 
posed. It  is  diflicult  to  believe  that  the  author  had 
nothing  to  do  with  it;  nevertheless  he  had  not  thought 
of  deriving  any  personal  benefit  from  the  work,  when  a 
provocation,  similar  to  that  which  was  offered  in  the  case 
of  Esther,  came  to  recall  it  to  his  mind.     The  Daily 


134  LIFE     OF    HANDEL. 

Post  of  Tuesday,  the  2d  of  May,  1732  (the  very  day  of 
the  production  of  Esther  at  the  King's  Theater),  con- 
tained tliis  paragraph  : — "  We  hear  that  the  proprietors 
of  the  English  Opera  will  very  shortly  perform  a  cele- 
brated pastoral  opera  called  Acts  and  Galatea.,  com- 
posed by  Mr.  Handel,  with  all  the  grand  choruses  and 
other  decorations,  as  it  was  performed  before  his  Grace 
the  Duke  of  Chandos,  at  Cannons.  It  is  now  in  rehears- 
al." On  the  6th,  came  a  fresh  advertisement : — "  At  the 
new  theater  in  the  Haymarket,  on  Thursday  next,  11th 
May,  will  be  performed  in  English,  a  pastoral  opera, 
called  Acis  and  Galatea^  with  all  tlie  choruses,  scenes, 
machines,  and  other  decorations,  etc.  (as  before),  being 
the  first  time  it  ever  was  performed  in  a  theatrical  way. 
The  part  of  Acis  by  Mr.  Mourtier,  being  the  first  time 
of  his  appearance  in  cliaracter  on  any  stage ;  Galatea, 
Miss  Arne.*  Pit  and  boxes,  5s."  We  afterward  find 
that  Acis  is  put  off  to  the  17th,  "  it  being  impossible  to 
get  ready  the  decorations,  scenes,  and  machines  before 
that  time." 

The  performance  took  place  on  the  17th  of  May. 
Burney  informs  us  that  this  entei'prise,  which  was  so 
well  managed  as  to  provoke  curiosity,  was  conducted  by 
an  upholsterer  named  Arne,  the  fither  of  Dr.  Arne. 

To  produce  the  work  of  a  man  without  his  participa- 
tion, and  at  the  very  side  of  the  theater  which  he  di- 
rected, would  seem  in  these  days  to  be  going  a  little  too 
far;  but  the  manners  of  the  time  permitted  it.  More 
than  half  a  century  afterward,  Piccini  died   of  distress, 


*  Miss  Arne,  afterward  Mrs.  Gibber,  enjoyed,  under  the  latter  name, 
a  great  reputation  as  a  singer.  Her  husband  was  TheophiUis  Gibber, 
the  brother  of  Colley  Gibber,  poet  laureate  in  the  reign  of  George  II. 
They  separated  after  a  very  scandalous  suit  for  adultery,  in  which  one 
shilling  damages  was  awarded  to  the  husband.  Those  who  place  the 
honor  of  a  m;m  upon  the  virtue  of  a  woman,  may  inquire  whether  this 
was  the  price  of  Mrs.  Theophilus's  virtue  or  of  her  husband's  honor. 
*'  Qii?nll/iit-ilfa'ire  dam  cette  galere .?" — Les  Fourleries  de  Scapin. 


"WITH     NO     ACTION."  135 

at  the  very  time  wlien  liis  operas  were  being  sung  at  ten 
or  twelve  of  the  cities  of  Italy. 

But  Handel  did  not  allow  the  idea  which  was  thus 
suggested  to  him  to  escape.  On  the  5th  of  June,  the 
Daily  Journal  announced ; 

"In  the  King's  Theater  in  the  Haymarket,  the  present 
Saturday,  being  the  10th  of  June,  will  be  performed  a 
serenata,  called  Acis  and  Galatea^  formerly  composed 
by  Mr.  Handel,  and  now  revised  by  him,  with  several 
additions,  and  to  be  performed  by  a  great  number  of  the 
best  voices  and  instruments.  There  will  be  no  action  on 
the  stage,  but  the  scene  will  represent,  in  a  picturesque 
manner,  a  rural  prospect,  with  rocks,  groves,  fountains, 
and  grottoes,  amongst  which  will  be  disposed  a  chorus 
of  nymphs  and  shepherds  ;  the  habits,  and  every  other 
decoration,  suited  to  the  subject.  Also  on  the  13th, 
17th,  20th.  The  libretto,  printed  for  J.  Watts,  in  three 
acts." 

It  seems  singular  enough  to  put  the  singers  into  cos- 
tume, and  then  to  leave  them  seated,  "  with  no  action," 
on  their  rocks.  The  grottoes,  the  groves,  and  the  fount- 
ains do  not  certainly  render  the  matter  much  clearer ; 
yet  they  are  inHnitely  preferable  to  the  evening  costumes 
which  confound  the  personages  which  each  other.  But 
this  masterpiece  of  grace  and  freshness  could  be  per- 
formed in  any  fashion. 

Arne,  the  father,  gave  the  English  serenata  precisely 
as  it  had  been  executed  at  Cannons  ;  but  Handel,  in 
order  to  attract  the  public  to  his  own  theater,  added  to 
the  score  many  of  the  au's  of  his  Neapolitan  serenata,  as 
well  as  three  choruses,  two  in  Italian  and  one  in  English. 
The  pastoral  was  sung,  therefore,  partly  in  English  and 
partly  in  Italian.  The  book  used  at  the  time  leaves  no 
doubt  upon  this  point.*  A  third  issue  of  the  AcAs  of 
1721  (engraved  by  Walsh)  contains  an  Itahan  air — "  Dell' 
aquila  gli  artigli,"  designated,  "  An  additional  Song, 
*  See  "  Catalogue." 


136  L  1  F  E     O  F     H  A  N  D  E  L  . 

sung  by  Signor  Sciiesino."  Signora  Strada  sustained 
tlie  part  of  Galatea,  and  Montagnana  that  of  Polyphe- 
mus. The  English  airs  attributed  to  the  two  parts 
which  were  added  (those  of  Clori  and  Eurilla)  were  con- 
fided to  Miss  Robinson  and  Mrs.  Davis, 

This  macaronic  Acts  was  performed  four  times  before 
the  end  of  June,  which  terminated  the  season  of  1731-2, 
and  four  times  only  during  the  following  season,  which 
commenced  in  December,  1*732.*  The  public  of  those 
days  must  liave  been  very  greedy  of  novelty,  however 
monstrous,  when  such  a  delicate  masterpiece  as  Acis  was 
executed  only  four  times  during  an  entire  season.  Han- 
del afterward  returned  to  the  simplicity  of  his  English 
version  of  Acis,  which  he  gave,  divided  into  two  acts,  in 
1739,  with  Dryden's  Ode  on  ^t.  Cecilici's  Day.  It  was 
then  only  that  he  added,  as  a  termination  to  the  first 
act,  the  delicious  chorus,  "  Happy,  happy,  happy  we." 

This  serenata  is  still  occasionally  sung  w^ith  action  and 
costume ;  but,  abandoned  to  the  English  opera,  it  was 
execrably  mounted  when  I  saw  it  in  1855.  Ten  years 
ago,  Mr.  Macready,  then  the  manager  of  Drury-lane 
Theater,  put  it  upon  the  stage  with  great  luxury  of 
decoration,  and  it  had  a  very  long  run. 

Apropos  of  Acis^  the  GentU'tnaii' s  Magazine  for 
August,  1732,  contains  a  very  curious  note,  taken  from 
the  Daily  Courant  of  the  9th  of  June,  1732,  to  the  fol- 
lowing effect :  —  "  Whereas  Signor  Bononcini  intends, 
after  the  serenata  composed  by  Mr.  Handel  hath  been 
performed,  to  have  one  of  his  own,  and  hath  desired 
Signora  Strada  to  sing  in  that  entertainment :  Aurelio 
del  Po,  husband  of  the  said  Signora  Strada,  thinks  it  in- 
cumbent upon  him  to  acquaint  the  nobility  and  gentry, 
that  he  shall  think  himself  happy  in  contributing  to  their 
satisfaction  ;  but,  with  respect  to  this  request,  hopes  he 

*  On  the  lOth,  13th,  17th,  and  20th  of  June,  and  the  5th,  9th,  12th, 
and  16th  of  December. — Daily  Journal. 


*'alchymist  music."  137 

shall  be  permitted  to  decline  complying  it,  for  reasons 
best  known  to  the  said  Aurelio  del  Po  and  his  wife."* 

The  style  of  this  note  is  not  less  extraordinary  than 
the  matter.  Here  is  a  husband  speaking  of  his  wife  as 
if  she  were  a  horse,  or  an  object  of  which  he  could  dis- 
pose at  his  pleasure,  saying  that  he  shall  be  happy  to 
contribute  to  the  pleasure  of  the  public  by  allowing  her 
to  sing,  but  that  he  has  motives  for  not  doing  so.  This 
is  indeed  a  curious  instance  of  the  brutahty  of  marital 
relations  in  those  times. 

But  with  or  without  the  assistance  of  Madame  del  Po, 
the  opera  of  the  gloomy  Italian  was  sung  on  the  24th  of 
June,  1732.  The  Daily  Jburnal  announces: — At  the 
King's  Theater  in  the  Haymarket,  on  Saturday,  the  24th 
of  June,  will  be  performed  a  Pastoral  Entertainment, 
composed  by  Signor  Bononcini."  It  appears,  therefore, 
that  Handel  gave,  at  the  theater  of  which  he  was  chief 
director,  the  work  of  a  man  who  was  set  up  for  his  rival. 
This  was  either  an  extreme  of  courtesy,  or  an  extreme 
of  pride. 

Alchymist  Music^  which  also  appeared  in  1732,  is  not 
an  original  composition.  Mr.  Lacy  has  recognized  in  it 
the  overture  of  Roderigo^  the  movements  of  which  have 
been  detached  from  each  other  to  be  used  as  dance  music. 
This  not  very  laborious  transmutation  was  eflected  for  a 
revival  of  the  Alchymist^  to  which  dances  were  added. f 
Ben  Jonson's  old  comedy  was  revived  again  at  Drury 
Lane  in  1739.  The  London  Daily  Post  of  the  4th  of 
April,  1739,  announces  : — "  Drury  Lane.  For  the  fourth 
time  this  season,  a  comedy  called  the  Alchymist^  by  Ben 
Jonson,  and  select  pieces  of  Music,  with  entertainments 
of  singing  and  dancing;  particularly:  End  of  Act  Ist-, 
a  Ballad,  Mrs.  Clive.  JSnd  of  Act  2nd,  a  Punch  Dance. 
Act  3?y7,  a  Song  ;  a  Grand  Ballet,  by  Mons.  Denoyer, 
&G.      Act  4th,   The   Pierots.      Act   5th,   an   Ethiopian 

*  See  Appendix  H.  +  Daily  Post,  Ttk  Marcli,  1732. 


138  LIFE    OF    HANDEL. 

Dance,   a   Turkish  Dance,   &c."      Here   are,    certainly, 
gambols  enough  to  suit  every  taste.* 

But  to  return.  It  was  also  in  the  year  1732,  and  not 
in  1724,t  that  the  Twelve  Sonatas^  or  Solos  for  a  VioU7i 
or  a  German  Flute^  were  published.  They  were  writ- 
ten, it  is  said,  for  the  Prince  of  Wales,  who  was  reckoned 
a  very  good  musician.  They  have  the  title  of  "  Opera 
l**,"  as  if  the  Suites  de  Pieces  were  not  reckoned  among 
the  works  of  instrumental  music.  In  the  seventh  of 
these  Sonatas  may  be  recognized  the  movement  in  the 
duet  of  Alexander,  "  Placa  I'alma  ;"  out  of  the  eleventh, 
Handel  made  the  fifth  of  the  Six  Orgaii  Concertos, 
Book  L,  which  appeared  in  October,  1738.  Thus  it  was 
that  he  copied  and  recopied  himself  more  than  once  in 
his  instrumental  music.  The  oveiture  of  St.  Cecilia''s 
Day  (of  September,  1739)  has  formed,  with  the  addition 
of  two  movements,  the  fifth  of  the  Grand  Concertos, 
dated  October,  1739;  and  the  fifth  of  the  Organ  Con- 
certos, Book  II.,  published  on  the  14th  of  January,  1741, 
is  taken  entire  out  of  this  fifth  Grayid  Concerto.  The 
fourth  of  the  celebrated  Ilautbois  Concertos  is  the  sec- 
ond overture  written  for  Amadigi,  in  171&.     The  sixth 

*  There  is  still  preserved,  at  Dulwicli  College,  a  manuscript  journal  by 
Ben  Jonson — tlie  contents  of  which  are  not  much  to  the  credit  either  of 
his  sobriety  or  his  modesty — in  which  he  records  that  he  wrote  his  Al- 
chymist  after  having  swallowed  forty  pounds'  worth  of  wine  ! — "Memo- 
randum. Upon  the  20th  of  May,  the  king  (Heaven  rewarji  him  !)  sent 
me  £100.  At  that  time  I  often  went  to  the  Devil  Tavern,  and  before  I 
had  spent  £40  of  it,  wrote  my  Alchymist.''''  In  another  place  he  writes  : 
— "  I  laid  the  plot  of  my  Volpnne  and  wrote  most  of  it  after  a  present  of 
ten  dozen  palm-sack  from  my  very  good  Lord  T .  That,  I  am  posi- 
tive will  live  to  posterity,  and  be  acted,  when  I  and  envy  be  friends,  with 
applause.  *  *  *  Mem.  The  first  speech  in  my  Catalma  spoken  by 
Sylla's  ghost,  was  writ  after  I  had  parted  with  my  friend  at  the  Devil 
Tavern;  I  had  drunk  well  that  night  and  had  brave  notions.  Tliere  is 
one  scene  In  that  play  which  I  think  is  flat ;  I  resolve  to  drink  no  more 
water  with  my  wine."  [  Weld's  History  of  the  Boyal  Society.']  These 
notes  of  a  drunkard  inspire  all  the  more  pity,  when  we  see  that  he  only 
drunk  wine  that  was  given  him.  Every  such  present  must  have  been 
an  additional  chain  upon  bis  liberty. 

t  See  "  Catalogue." 


PROSPECTS     OF    AN    ENGLISH     OPERA.       189 

is  made  out  of  a  symphony  in  Ottone.  The  first  of  the 
seven  Sonatas  IVios  (of  1739)  is  nothing  but  the  over- 
ture to  the  first  of  the  Chandos  AntheTns^  "  I  will  mag- 
nify." Other  similar  examples  might  be  quoted.  Han- 
del evidently  attached  only  a  secondary  importance  to 
his  instrumental  music ;  for  if  this  style  of  composition 
had  possessed  in  his  eyes  the  great  and  legitimate  value 
which  it  has  since  acquired,  this  man,  whose  fecundity 
was  inexhaustible  as  his  powers  were  indefatigable,  would 
not  have  remodeled  a  little  overture  three  times  over 
between  1739  and  1741.  He  left  room  for  Boccherini, 
Haydn,  Mozart,  and  Beethoven. 

At  the  same  epoch  with  the  twelve  Sonata  Solos, 
Opera  1^  (1732),  there  also  appeared  the  first  six  Sona- 
tas Trios  under  the  French  title,  Sonatas  a,  2  violons,  2 
hautbois  on  deux  flutes  traversleres  et  basse  contimi. 
Second  ouvrage  (Opera  2^).  Another  book  of  Seven 
Sonatas  Trios,  Opera  5^,  was  published  in  1739.  Haw- 
kins and  his  copyists  often  say  that  such  and  such  a  thing 
is  taken  from  Opera  5^  ;  but,  according  to  Mr.  Lacy, 
they  are  deceived  in  the  date,  and  the  truth  is,  that  the 
subjects  are  generally  borrowed  from  some  former  work 
of  the  author — the  Chmidos  Anthems,  Athalia,  the  first 
Organ  Concertos,  the  dance  music  of  Ariodante  and 
Alcina,  which  are  all  anterior  to  1739.  Handel  j^robably 
made  this  compilation  to  get  rid  of  Walsh,  who  may 
have  asked  him  for  a  sequel  to  the  SonatasTrios  of  1732  ; 
for  publishers  are  always  w' ishing  for  sequels  and  pendants 
to  every  work  that  brings  in  a  large  profit. 

The  appearance  of  the  beautiful  and  charming  melo- 
dies of  Esther  and  Acis,  set  to  English  w^ords,  was  a 
twofold  pleasure  for  those  w^bose  musical  patriotism  was 
dreaming  of  a  great  English  opera,  and  who  were  irri- 
tated because  all  good  music  required  a  passport  in  the 
Italian  language.  There  is,  in  the  works  of  Aaron  Hill,  a 
letter  which  proves  the  existence  of  this  spirit  in  some 
minds : 


140  LIFE    OF    HANDEL. 

"  To  Mr.  Handel. 

"December  5,  1'732. 

"  Sm, — I  ought  sooner  to  have  returned  you  my  hearty 
thanks  for  the  silver  ticket,  which  has  carried  the  obhga- 
tion  furtlier  than  to  myself;  for  my  daughters  are  both 
such  lovers  of  musick,  that  it  is  hard  to  say  which  of 
them  is  most  capable  of  being  charmed  by  the  composi- 
tions of  Mr.  Handel. 

"  Having  this  occasion  of  troubling  you  with  a  letter, 
I  can  not  forbear  to  tell  you  of  the  earnestness  of  my 
washes,  that,  as  you  have  made  such  considerable  steps 
toward  it  already,  you  would  let  us  owe  to  your  inimita- 
ble genius  the  establishment  of  musick  upon  a  foundation 
of  good  poetry ;  where  the  excellence  of  the  sound 
should  be  no  longer  dishonored  by  the  poorness  of  the 
sense  it  is  chained  to. 

"  My  meaning  is,  that  you  will  be  resolute  enough  to 
deliver  us  from  our  Italian  bondage,  and  demonstrate 
that  English  is  soft  enough  for  opera,  when  composed  by 
poets  who  know  how  to  distinguish  the  sweetness  of  our 
tongue  from  the  strength  of  it,  where  the  last  is  less 
necessary. 

"  I  am  of  opinion  that  male  and  female  voices  may  be 
found  in  this  kingdom  capable  of  every  thing  that  is 
requisite  ;  and,  I  am  sure,  a  species  of  dramatic  opera 
might  be  invented,  that,  by  reconciling  reason  and  dig- 
nity witli  musick  and  line  machinery,  would  charm  the 
ear,  and  hold  fast  the  heart,  together. 

*'  I  am  so  much  a  stranger  to  the  nature  of  your  pres- 
ent engagements,  that  if  what  I  have  said  should  not 
happen  to  be  so  practicable  as  I  conceive  it,  you  will 
have  the  goodness  to  impute  it  to  the  zeal  with  which  I 
wish  you  at  the  head  of  a  design  as  solid  and  imperish- 
able as  your  musick  and  memory. — I  am,  sir,  your  most 
obliged  and  most  obedient  servant,  A.  Hill." 

Handel  was  very  well  disposed  to  prove  that  the  Ian- 


"ORLANDO."  141 

guage  of  the  Britannic  Isles  (althougli  the  French  call  it 
the  language  of  birds)  is,  perhaps,  as  good  a  one  as  any 
other  for  singing  birds ;  but  still  he  was  by  no  means 
prepared  to  renounce  the  Italian.  While  he  was  pro- 
ducing the  first  English  serenata,  and  the  first  English 
oratorio,  he  wrote  Orlando.  The  MS.  is  inscribed — 
"fine  dell  atto  2°,  Novemb^  10,  1732"— "fine  del  opera, 
November  20."  The  first  representation,  which  was 
announced  for  the  23d  of  January,  1733,  Avas  put  ofif 
to  the  27th,  "  the  principal  performers  being  indis- 
posed," says  the  Daily  Post.  This  delay  should  be 
noted,  because,  in  the  same  journal  of  the  6th  of  Feb- 
ruary, we  find,  "  To-day  is  published  Orlando  /"  and, 
on  the  13th,  "This  day  is  published  the  whole  opera 
of  Orlando ;  John  Walsh,  price  lis.  6d."  Here  we 
have  a  score  rehearsed,  played,  printed,  and  offered  for 
sale,  on  the  13th  of  February,  1733,  although  its  sec- 
ond act  was  not  finished  on  the  9th  of  the  preceding 
November  I  And  this  activity  of  the  composer-manager, 
his  artists,  and  his  publisher,  will  appear  all  the  more 
extraordinary,  when  it  is  known  that  this  opera  was 
mounted  with  great  splendor.  The  laconic  little  MS. 
of  Colman  says — "  Orlando ;  extraordinarily  fine  and 
magnificent."  The  edition  (which  is  one  of  Walsh's 
best)  has  ninety  pages.  It  is  true  that  it  is  only  "  a  com- 
plete edition"  after  Walsh's  fashion — that  is  to  say,  with- 
out recitatives ;  but  to  engrave,  print,  and  bind  ninety 
pages  of  music  in  seventeen  days,  must  have  required 
great  resources  of  execution.  Walsh  has  left  more  than 
one  proof  of  the  extent  of  his  establishment,  and  of  the 
celerity  with  w^hich  work  could  be  performed.  Accord- 
ing to  the  General  Advertiser.,  he  published,  on  the  8th 
of  March,  1749,  Susannah.,  which  had  been  produced  on 
the  preceding  10th  of  February.  He  had,  therefore,  less 
than  a  month  to  engrave  an  edition  which  has  ninety- 
four  pages. 

The  noisy  air  in  Orlando.,  "  Sorge  jnfausta,"  has  via- 


142^  LIFE    OF    HANDEL. 

lette  in  the  bass  of  its  accompaniment ;  while  the  gentle 
air,  "  Gia  I'ebro  mio  ciglio,"  is  accompanied  by  "  2  vio- 
lette  marine  con  violoncelli  pizzicati."  Jndging  by  its 
name,  the  violetta  was  the  diminutive  of  the  viola  ;  viola, 
violetta,  large  and  small  tenor.*  It  was  an  ah'eady 
ancient  instrument  at  that  time  ;  and  may  be  found  in 
the  edition  of  JRinaldo  of  1711 ;  and  again  in  Parthe- 
nope.  As  for  the  violetta  marina^  it  w^as  an  invention 
altogether  recent.  In  the  advertisement  of  a  concert, 
in  the  Daily  Journal  of  Monday,  the  27th  of  March, 
1732,  it  is  stated  that  "  Signor  Castrucci  will  play  a  con- 
certo of  his  own,  on  a  beautiful  new  instrument,  called 
the  violetta  mariyia?''  What  was  this  novelty?  The 
musical  dictionaries  of  Grassineau,  1740  ;  of  J.  J.  Rous- 
seau, 1768;  of  Hoyle,  1791;  of  Danneley  (N.  D.),  of 
Lichtenhall,  1839;  and  of  Hamilton  and  Tinctor,  edited 
by  J.  Bishop,  in  1849 — although  they  all  assume  to  be 
"  complete" — do  not  even  mention  the  name  of  the  ■vio- 
letta marina^  or  even  of  the  simple  violetta.     The  in- 

*  This  family  of  instruments  seems  to  me  to  be  thus  graduated :  the 
viola,  or  viol,  which  was  the  generic  type  ;  the  'ciolone,  or  very  big  viol, 
afterward  called  the  contrabasso,  or  double-bass.  On  or  one  final  in 
Italian  expresses,  as  in  Spanish,  an  idea  of  augmentation,  just  as  ello  or 
etto  does  an  idea  of  diminution.  Violoncello  is  literally  the  little  big 
viol ;  in  other  words,  the  diminutive  of  the  big  viol,  or  double-bass. 
Finally,  the  violino,  or  violin,  is  a  new  diminutive  of  violoncello.  The 
grandmother  of  the  family,  the  viola,  or  viol,  afterward  took  an  interme- 
diate place  in  the  harmonic  scale : 

Double-bass. 

Violoncello. 

Viola. 

Violin.i 
I  am  disposed  to  believe  that  the  violin,  which  is  the  smallest  and  the 
most  perfect  of  the  family,  is  the  last  comer ;  for  the  human  mind  always 
commences  by  pushing  its  discoveries  to  exaggeration,  and  afterward, 
wlien  it  knows  more,  by  simplifying.  After  the  invention  of  gunpow- 
der, monster  cannons  were  made  (like  that  which  is  exhibited  at  Ghent 
as  a  curiosity),  and  men  arrived  at  the  handy  and  fatal  rifle  after  these 
gigantic  tubes,  which  could  do  no  great  harm  on  account  of  the  diffi- 
culty of  managing  them. 


1  I  give  this  genealogy  without  positively  affirming  its  exactness. 


THE     "VIOLETTA     MARINA."  143 

dustrious  and  learned  Hawkins  liimself  says  nothing 
about  it,  and  one  miglit  indeed  suppose  it  to  be  ao  small 
that  no  author  has  been  able  to  perceive  it.  Burney  can 
give  nothing  better  than  the  following  note,  which 
amounts  to  nothing:  "The  violetta  marina  seems  to 
have  been  a  kind  of  viol  d'amoiw  with  sympathetic 
strings.*  Busby,  in  his  Dictionary  of  3Iusic,  although 
as  silent  as  the  others  about  tlie  violetta  simple,  has  only 
employed  Burney's  note,  suppressing  the  sympathetic 
strings^  which  he  doubtless  understood  as  little  as  I  do. 
"A  stringed  instrument,"  says  he, "  supposed  to  have  been 
similar  in  shape  and  tone  to  the  viol  d? amour.  It  was 
first  introduced  into  England  by  Signor  Castrucci,  in  the 
year  1732." 

The  viol  (Varnour  is  known  to  be  a  broad  viola,  with 
six  metallic  strings,  rather  loosely  strung  ;  but  the  only 
page  of  music  which  is  known  written  for  the  violetta 
marina^  that  of  the  air  in  Orlando^  "  Gia  I'ebro,"  is 
Avritten  for  a  four-stringed  instrument.  Burney's  defini- 
tion appears,  therefore,  to  be  0})en  to  disjnite  ;  but  I  can 
give  no  better.  All  that  is  known  is,  that  the  violetta 
marina  was  different  from  the  simple  violetta,  not  only 
on  account  of  the  adjective  marina  whicli  distinguished 
it,  but  also  because  it  must  have  been  much  more  deli- 
cate, since  Handel  sustained  it  only  by  the  "  violoncelli 
pizzicati." 

It  remains  also  to  discover  what  was  the  meaning  of 
the  adjective  marina.  The  name  of  tromha  marina^  or 
marine  trumpet,  was  given  to  a  triangular  and  single- 
stringed  instrument,  played  w'ith  a  bow,  whose  existence 
is  lost  in  the  night  of  Time.  Mersennus  says  that  it  was 
so  called,  "  either  because  it  was  invented  by  seamen,  or 
because  they  make  use  of  it  instead  of  the  trumpet." 
This  explanation  is  as  unsatisfactory  as  the  name  is  pecu- 
liar ;  but,  nevertheless,  there  may  have  been  some  con- 
nection between  the  old  tromha  marina  and  the  violetta 
*  Page  366. 


144  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

marina^  sufficient  at  least  to  give  them  the  same  desig- 
nation. Handel,  who  was  fond  of  every  thing  that 
could  in  any  way  add  to  the  resources  of  the  orchestra, 
employed  the  violetta  marina  in  Orlando  as  soon  as  it 
was  made  known  to  him  ;  but  he  returned  to  the  simple 
violetta  when  he  wrote  Deborah^  a  few  months  afterward. 
In  the  accompaniment  to  tlie  cliorns  of  the  "  Priests  of 
Baal,"  may  be  found,  "  Yiolini  tutti  e  violette  all'  ottava 
con  i  bassi." 

Castriicci,  who  introduced  the  violetta  marina  into  En- 
gland (where  he  arrived  in  1715),  was  a  very  enthusias- 
tic violinist,  from  whom  Hogarth  derived  his  caricature 
of  the  "  Enraged  Musician."  The  JDcdly  Post  of  the 
22d  of  February,  1732,  announces  a  concert  for  his  bene- 
fit, and  "  particularly  a  solo,  in  which  he  engages  himself 
to  execute  twenty-four  notes  with  one  bow."  On  tiie 
following  day,  the  little  theater  in  Goodman's  Fields  ad- 
vertised a  solo  "by  a  fiddler,  who  will  play  twenty-five 
notes  with  one  bow."  These  dexterous  tricks  by  artists 
are  somewhat  antiquated,  and  they  have  always  been 
held  up  to  ridicule  ;  nevertheless,  we  constantly  find  for- 
gotten ones  turning  up  in  the  disguise  of  extraordinary 
novelties.  Moreover,  the  bows  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury were,  it  is  true,  much  shorter  than  those  of  the 
present  day  ;  but  they  must  have  been  exceedingly  small, 
if  twenty-four  notes  with  a  single  stroke  was  a  marvel. 
The  merest  tyro  in  the  present  day  could  make  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty. 

Castrucci  was  first  of  all  attached  to  the  Royal  Acad- 
emy of  Music  as  leader,  and  he  remained  many  years  iu 
that  place  with  Handel.  .  When  he  became  too  old  for 
his  post,  he  was  unwilling  to  quit  it.  Handel,  who  wished 
to  promote  John  Clegg,  the  second  violin  and  a  pupil  of 
Dubourg,  wrote  a  concerto  in  which  the  part  of  the 
second  violin  was  so  contrived  that  it  required  much 
more  execution  than  that  of  the  first,  and  Clegg  proved 
himself  to  be  so  superior,  that  Castrucci  was  compelled 


SINGING    IN    LONDON.  145 

to  cede  to  him  both  the  palm  and  his  place.  Hawkins 
says  that  the  poor  Italian,  "  oppressed  with  years,  im- 
mediately sank  into  oblivion."  He  died  in  1752,  at  the 
age  of  eighty-four. 

This  took  place  in  HSG,  in  which  year  there  w^as  a 
great  deal  of  singing  in  London.  By  the  side  of  Or- 
lando^ at  the  King's  Theater,  they  gave,  on  the  10th  of 
February,  1733,  at  the  "  new  theater  in  the  Haymarket, 
a  new  opera,  called  Dione^  by  Lampe  ;"  at  Covent  Gar- 
den, on  the  same  day,  "a  new  opera,  called  Achilles^  by 
the  late  Mr.  Gay,"  without  any  composer's  name  given  ; 
and  on  the  17th  of  March,  at  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields, 
'"'"Hosamond^  written  by  the  late  Mr.  Addison,  now  set 
to  music  after  the  Italian  manner,  by  Mr.  Arne,  junior" 
(afterward  Dr.  Arne).  If  we  add  to  this,  Drury-lane 
and  Goodman's  Fields,  it  appears  that  the  Londoners  of 
1733  possessed  six  theaters,  out  of  w^hich  four  were  con- 
secrated to  music. 

7 


CHAPTER   V. 

1733. 

*'I)EBORAn"— Violent  Letter  against  Handel  by  the  Librettist  Rolli— 
Handel's  Orchestration  and  Choruses— His  Employment  of  the  Drum— 
A.LL  his  Cotemporaries  Eeproach  him  with  Exaggeration  of  the  Har- 
monic Forces— QuARREi^ WITH  Senesino— Cabal  of  the  Nobility  against 
Handel — A  Eival  Theater  Organized — Predilections  of  the  Eighteenth 
Century  for  High  Voices— Bononcini  and  the  Madrigal  of  Lottl 

The  success  obtained  by  Esther  naturally  encouraged 
the  author  to  try  once  more  the  effect  of  that  style  of 
composition.  During  the  earlier  performances  of  Or- 
lando^ he  wrote  Deborah^  which  was  finished  on  the 
24th  of  February,  1733.  It  was  on  the  l^th  of  March 
that  this  second  English  oratorio  succeeded  Floridante^ 
which  had  been  revived  from  the  3d  to  the  13th.  The 
Daily  Journal  of  the  17th  of  March  announces: — "  By 
His  Majesty's  command.  Deborah^  an  oratorio  or  sacred 
drama,  in  English,  composed  by  Mr.  Handel.  The  house 
to  be  fitted  up  and  illuminated  in  a  new  and  particular 
manner ;  and  to  be  performed  by  a  great  number  of  the 
best  voices  and  instruments.  Tickets,  to  be  delivered  at 
the  office  of  the  Opera-house  on  Friday  and  Saturday, 
16th  and  17th  inst.,  one  guinea  each;  gallery,  half  a 
guinea.  N.B. — This  is  the  last  dramatick  performance 
that  will  be  exhibited  at  the  King's  Theater  till  after 
Easter." 

The  price  of  seats  varied  according  to  the  wish  of  the 
managers.  The  enormous  price  of  one  guinea,  demanded 
on  account  of  the  new  oratorio,  was  the  signal  for  gen- 
eral discontent.  The  annual  subscribers  w^ere  moreover 
greatly  shocked,  and  not  without  reason,  at  being  forced 
to  pay  extra  for  their  places  because  a  sacred  English 


"a   new   opera   scheme."  147 

drama  was  given  in  the  place  of  a  profane  Italian  one, 
even  supposing  "the  house  to  be  fitted  up  and  illumin- 
ated in  a  new  and  particular  manner."  It  would  appear 
that  this  unjust  augmentation  had  been  resolved  upon  a 
long  time  in  advance  by  Handel  and  his  partner  Heideg- 
ger. The  enemies  of  the  former  did  not  delay  to  make 
use  of  the  arms  which  he  placed  in  their  hands.  The 
following  letter,  by  the  librettist  Paolo  Rolli,  addressed 
to  Mr.  Danvers,  the  editor  of  the  Craftsman^  is  tart, 
virulent,  and  full  of  rage.  It  is  curious  to  see  how  the 
animosities  behind  the  scenes  made  common  cause  with 
those  before.  I  extract  this  letter  from  the  London 
Magazine  for  April  1733,  which  gives  it  in  extenso. 
The  GentUmart's  Magazine,  for  April  gives  only  an 
abridgment : 

"  A  New   Opeea   Scheme. 

"  One  who  signs  himself  Paolo  Rolli,  in  a  letter  to  Mr. 
Danvers,  editor  of  the  Craftsman^  says :  As  I  know 
your  zeal  for  liberty,  I  thought  I  could  not  address  bet- 
ter than  to  you  the  following  exact  account  of  the  noble 
stand  lately  made  by  the  polite  part  of  the  world  in  de- 
fense of  their  liberties  and  properties,  against  the  open 

attack  and  bold  attempts  of  Mr.  II 1  upon  both.     I 

shall  singly  here  relate  the  fact,  and  leave  you,  who  are 
better  able  than  I  am,  to  make  what  inferences  or  appli- 
cations may  be  proper.     The  rise  and  progress  of  Mr. 

H I's  power  and  fortune  are  too  well  known  for  me 

now  to  relate.  Let  it  suffice  to  say,  that  he  was  grown 
so  insolent  upon  the  sudden  and  undeserved  increase  of 
both,  that  he  thought  nothing  ought  to  oppose  his  im- 
perious and  extravagant  will.  He  had  for  some  time 
governed  the  operas,  and  modeled  the  orchestra,  without 
the  least  control.  No  voices,  no  instruments,  were  ad- 
mitted but  such  as  flattered  his  ears,  though  they 
shocked  those  of  the  audience.  Wretched  scrapers 
were  put  above   the  best  hands  in  the   orchestra;  no 


148  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

music  but  bis  own  was  allowcnl,  thougli  every  body  was 
weary  of  it;  and  be  bad  tbe  impudence  to  assert  tbat 
tbere  was  no  composer  in  England  but  bimself.  Even 
kings  and  queens  were  to  be  content  with  whatever  low 
characters  he  was  pleased  to  assign  them,  as  is  evident  in 
the  case  of  Signer  Montagnana,  who,  though  a  king,*  is 
always  obliged  to  act  (except  an  angry,  rumbling  song  or 
two)  the  most  insignificant  pait  of  the  whole  drama.f 
This  excess  and  abuse  of  power  soon  disgusted  the 
towm :  his  government  grew  odious,  and  his  operas 
empty.  However,  this,  instead  of  humbling  him,  only 
made  him  more  furious  and  desperate.  He  resolved  to 
make  one  last  effort  to  establish  his  powder  and  fortune 
by  force,  since  he  found  it  now  impossible  to  hope  it 
from  the  good  will  of  mankind.  In  order  to  do  this,  he 
formed  a  plan  without  consulting  any  of  his  friends  (if 
he  has  any),  and  declared  that  at  a  proper  season  he 
would  communicate  it  to  the  public;  assuring  us,  the 
very  same  time,  that  it  would  be  very  much  for  the  ad- 
vantage of  the  public  in  general,  and  of  operas  in  par- 
ticular. Some  people  suspect  that  he  had  settled  it 
previously  with  the  Signora  Strada  del  Po,  who  is  much 
in  his  favor  ;  but  all  that  I  can  advance  with  certainty  is, 
that  he  had  concerted  it  with  a  brother  of  liis  own, J  in 
w4iom  he  places  a  most  undeserved  confidence.     In  this 

*  In  the  theatrical  polemics  of  that  epoch,  it  often  appears  that  the 
names  of  king  and  queen  were  applied  to  the  principal  singers  at  the 
opera. 

t  Montagnana  was  a  basso.  It  has  been  already  stated  that,  in  the 
eighteenth  century,  the  pnblic  had  very  little  taste  for  that  kind  of  voice. 

X  Handel  never  had  a  brother ;  bat  here  reference  is,  doubtless,  in- 
tended to  be  made  to  Smith  the  elder,  who  was  as  devoted  to  him  as  a 
bi-other;  as  Smith  the  younger  became  attached  to  him  like  a  son. 
Hawkins  makes  mention  (at  p.  877)  of  a  journey  wliich  Handel  took  into 
It^ly  "  with  old  Mr,  Smith."  It  may  be  also  that  Heidegger,  Handel's 
partner,  is  referred  to;  "  a  brother  manager"  is  a  common  expression. 
The  phrase  is  observable  ;  it  does  not  say  "  with  his  brother,"  but  "  with 
a  brother  of  his  own,"  as  if  a  brother  of  his  choice  were  intruded. 
Nevertheless,  I  am  not  aware  that  Smith  or  Heidegger  was  ever  accused 
of  any  talent  upon  the  Jew's-harp. 


ROLLI'S    LIBEL.  149 

brother  of  liis,  beat  and  dullness  are  miraculously  united 
— the  former  prompts  him  to  any  thing  new  and  violent, 
while  the  latter  liinders  him  from  seeing-  any  of  the  in- 
conveniences of  it.    As  Mr.  H I's  brother,  he  thought 

it  was  necessary  he  should  be  a  musician  too ;  but  all  he 
could  arrive  at,  after  a  very  laborious  application  for 
many  years,  was  a  moderate  performance  upon  the 
Jew's-trump.  He  had,  for  some  time,  played  a  parte 
buffa  abroad,  and  had  entangled  his  brother  in  several 
troublesome  and  dangerous  engagements  in  the  com- 
mission he  had  given  him  to  contract  with  foreign  per- 
formers, and  from  which,  by  the  way,  Mr.  H 1  did 

not  disengage  himself  with  much  honor.     Notwithstand- 

all  these,  and  many  more  objections,  Mr.  H 1,  by  and 

with  the  advice  of  his  brother,  at  last  produces  his  pro- 
ject, resolves  to  cram  it  down  the  throats  of  the  town  ; 
prostitutes  great  and  awful  names  as  the  patrons  of  it ; 
and  even  does  not  scruple  to  insinuate  that  they  are  to 
be  sharers  of  the  profit.  His  scheme  set  forth  in  sub- 
stance that  the  decay  of  operas  was  owing  to  their 
cheapness,  and  to  the  great  frauds  committed  by  the 
door-keepers ;  that  the  annual  subscribers  were  a  parcel 
of  rogues,  and  made  an  ill  use  of  their  tickets  by  often 
running  two  into  the  gallery ;  that  to  obviate  these 
abuses,  he  had  contrived  a  thing  that  was  better  than 
an  opera,  called  an  oratorio ;  to  which  none  should  be  ad- 
mitted but  by  printed  permits,  or  tickets,  of  one  guhiea 
each,  which  should  be  distributed  out  of  warehouses  of  his 
own,  and  by  officers  of  his  own  naming — which  officers 
could  not  reasonably  be  supposed  to  cheat  in  the  collec- 
tion of  half  guineas  ;'*  and  lastly,  that  as  the  being  of 
operas  depended  upon  him  singly,  it  was  just  that  the 
profit  arising  from  hence  should  be  for  his  own  benefit. 
He  added  indeed  one  condition,  to  varnish  the  whole  a 
little ;  which  was,  that  if  any  person  should  think  him- 

*  All  this  was  iuteudeil  to  represent  Ilaudel   as   accusing  his  sub- 
scribers of  complicity  with  the  check-takers. 


150  LIFE    OF     HANDEL, 

self  aggrieved,  he  should  be  at  liberty  to  appeal  to  three 
judges  of  musick,  who  should  be  obliged,  within  the 
space  of  seven  years  at  furthest,  finally  to  determine  the 
same,  provided  the  said  judges  should  be  of  his  nomina- 
tion, and  known  to  like  no  other  musick  but  his.  Tliis 
extravagant  scheme  disgusted  the  whole  town.  Many 
of  the  most  constant  attenders  of  the  operas  resolve  to 
renounce  them,  rather  than  go  to  them  under  such  ex- 
tortion and  vexation.  They  exclaimed  against  the  in- 
solent and  rapacious  projector  of  this  plan.  The  kings, 
old  and  sworn  servants  of  the  two  theaters  of  Drury 
Lane  and  Covent  Garden,  reaped  the  benefit  of  this  dis- 
content, and  vrere  resorted  to  in  crowds  by  way  of  op- 
position to  the  oratorio.  Even  the  fairest  breasts  were 
fired  with  indignation  against  this  new  imposition. 

"  Assemblies,  cards,  tea,  cofiTee,  and  all  otiier  female 
batteries  were  vigorously  employed  to  defeat  the  pi-oject 
and  destroy  the  projector.*  These  joint  endeavors  of 
all  ranks  and  sexes  succeeded  well ;  tliat  the  projector 
had  the  mortification  to  see  but  a  very  thin  audience  at 
his  oratorios ;  and  of  about  two  hundred  and  sixty  odd 
that  it  consisted  of,  it  is  notorious  that  not  ten  paid  for 
their  permits;  but,  on  the  contrary,  had  them  given 
them,  and  money  into  the  bargain,  for  coming  to  keep 
him  in  countenance.  This  accident,  they  say,  has  thrown 
him  into  a  deep  melancholy,  interrupted  sometimes  by 
raving  fits,  in  which  he  fancies  he  sees  ten  thousand 
opera  devils  coming  to  tear  him  to  pieces;  then  he 
breaks  out  into  frantic  incoherent  speeches,  muttering 
sturdy  beggars^  assassination. !  etc.  In  these  delirious 
moments,  he  discovers  a  particular  aversion  for  the  Cltg. 
He  calls  them  all  a  parcel  of  rogues,  and  asserts  that  the 
honestest  trader  among  them  deserves  to  be  hanged.  It  is 
much  questioned  whether  he  will  recover;  at  least,  if  he 

♦  It  will  presently  be  seen  that  Hawkins  and  Smollett  confirm  the  fact 
of  soirees  given  by  ladies  on  the  eveiiincfs  when  Handel  gave  repre- 
sentations, in  order  to  tempt  his  audience  away. 


EPIGRAM.  151 

does,  it  is  not  doubted  but  he  will  seek  for  a  retreat  in 
his  own  country^  from  the  g'eneral  resentment  of  the 
town. 

"  P.S. — Having  seen  a  little  epigram,  lately  handed 
about  town,  which  seems  to  allude  to  the  same  subject, 
I  beUeve  it  will  not  be  unwelcome  to  your  readers  : 

"EPIGRAM. 

"  Quoth  W e  to  H 1,  '  shall  we  two  agree, 

Aud  'Exciu  the  whole  nation  V 

H.— '  Si,  Caro,  Si.' 
H. — '  Of  what  use  are  slieep  if  the  sliepherd  can't  shear  'em  ? 
All  the  liaymarket  /,  you  at  Westminster.' 

W.— '  Hear  him  !" 
Called  to  order,  their  Seconds  appear  in  their  place  ; 
One  famed  for  his  morals  and  one  for  his  face  !* 
Though  at  first  they  bid  fair,  at  last  they  were  crost ; 
The  Excise  was  thrown  up,  and  Deborah  lost."t 

The  yenom  of  calumny  fills  every  line  of  this  furious 
diatribe,  which  ends  by  placing  Handel  on  an  equality 
with  the  infamous  Walpole.  The  vipers  of  that  age  cast 
their  slime  in  much  the  same  manner  as  the  vipers  of 
to-day.  Poor  humanity,  wilt  thou  never  be  delivered 
from  tigers,  dogs,  and  vipers  ! 

Handel  was  moved  by  the  only  complaint  in  Rolli's 
letter  which  had  any  justice,  and  he  gave  Deborah  a 
second  time,  on  the  21st  of  March,  upon  the  following 
terms :  "  Boxes  and  pit  half  a  guinea,  and  gallery  five 
shillings.  IST.B. — Subscribers'  silver  tickets  will  be  ad- 
mitted." The  third  and  fourth  performances  took  place 
upon  the  same  terms  on  the  27th  of  March  and  the  4th 

*  This  must  be  Heidegger,  whose  ugliness  was  so  celebrated ;  as  for 
the  other  name,  I  do  not  know  who  is  referred  to. 

t  One  of  my  friends,  who  has  read  my  manuscript,  is  of  opinion  that 
Handel  is  for  nothing  in  this  letter,  or  at  least  has  but  afforded  a  pre- 
tense for  attacking  "VVal  pole  and  his  Excise.  There  are  rather  specious 
reasons  for  entertaining  this  opinion,  but  as  tlicy  have  failed  to  convince 
me,  I  have  kept  the  letter  for  what  it  appears  to  me  to  be.  I  think,  more- 
over, that  we  should  be  very  suspicious  of  these  interpretations,  which 
the  Gentleman's  Magazine  had  opposed  a  century  ago.  (Appendixes  i  i . 
and  T.) 


152  LIFJJ    OF    HANDEL. 

of  April,  and  the  season  terminated  with  Esther  and 
Orlaiido. 

Deborah  was  performed  without  action,  as  Esther  was ; 
but  the  journaUsts  of  the  period  (who  were  not  very 
accomplished  amateurs)  so  little  understood  what  an  ora- 
toiio  was,  that  the  Daily  Journal  of  the  3d  of  April 
records  that  the  king  and  princess  went  to  the  Haymar- 
ket,  "to  see  the  opera  of  Deborah ;''''  and  the  London 
Magazine  of  April,  1732,  publishes  the  poem  of  Esther^ 
"  as  it  is  now  acted  at  the  Theater  Royal  in  the  Hay- 
market,  with  vast  applause  ;  the  musick  being  composed 
by  the  great  Mr.  Handel." 

Handel  had  already  introduced  into  Esther  many 
more  choruses  than  the  Italians  used.  His  Roman  ora- 
torios of  1708,  the  JResurreczione  and  Trionfo  del  Tempo^ 
have  only  two  apiece.  In  his  second  English  sacred 
composition,  he  developed  that  distinctive  character  of 
modern  oratorios,  the  preponderance  of  choruses,  and  he 
also  greatly  augmented  the  accompaniment,  as  he  had 
already  done  in  his  anthems.  Prejudice  will  take  advan- 
tage of  every  thing.  Those  powerful  choral  combina- 
tions, which  he  invented,  were  accused  of  excess  and 
violence ;  he  w^as  repi-oached  with  having  exaggerated 
the  orchestra,  while  he,  on  the  other  hand,  complained 
of  want  of  means  to  express  his  conceptions. 

He  was  beyond  his  century ;  but,  like  all  men  of  even 
the  boldest  genius,  he  was  subject  to  the  influences  which 
surrounded  him.  Boldness  must  be  estimated  relatively. 
He  dared  not  make  use  of  the  big  drum,  from  which 
Rossini  has  extracted  such  fine  effects  in  his  finales  ;  and 
perhaps  he  did  not  refrain  from  doing  so  without  mani- 
festing some  regret ;  for,  with  satirical  exaggeration,  he 
is  accused  of  having  one  day  exclaimed,  "Ah!  why  can 
not  1  have  a  cannon  ?"  The  fastidious  may,  perhaps, 
object  that  Handel  is  outraged  by  supposing  him  capable 
of  such  a  i-egret.  But  why  so  ?  The  big  drum  requires 
to  be  used  with  great  discernment ;  but  it  seems  to  be 


HANDEL    FOND    OF    NOISE.  153 

as  useful  as  any  other  bass  instrument.  It  is  to  tlie  side 
drum  exactly  what  the  bassoon  is  to  the  hautboy,  the 
violoncello  to  the  violin,  and  the  double-bass  to  the  vio- 
loncello. It  has  only  become  odious  through  the  Rtu})i(l 
abuse  which  has  been  made  of  it ;  but  must  we  pro- 
scribe the  trumpet  because  every  showman  blows  it  at  a 
fair  ?  must  we  abolish  the  side  drums  on  account  of 
Drum  Quadrilles  at  the  Surrey  Gardens  ?  If  Burney 
is  to  be  believed,  Handel  would  have  gone  far  beyond 
the  big  drum,  for  he  speaks  of  a  bassoon  sixteen  feet  high^ 
Avhich  was  used  hi  the  orchestra  in  the  commemoration 
of  1784,  and  which  John  Ashly  attempted  to  play  upon. 
"  This  bassoon,"  says  he,  "  was  made  with  the  approba- 
tion of  Mr.  Handel,"  for  John  Frederic  Lampe,  the 
excellent  bassoon  player  belonging  to  his  company.  It 
may  be,  however,  that  Burney,  who,  like  all  men  of  wit, 
was  something  of  a  wag,  wis'icd  to  amuse  himself  at 
the  expense  of  the  credulous,  Mith  the  wind-instrument 
of  sixteen  feet  in  height ;  but  it  is  certain  that  monster 
bassoons  were  made  in  August,  1739,  and  that  Handel 
made  use  of  them  in  January,  1740.  The  London  Daily 
Post  of  the  6th  of  August,  1739,  announces: — "This 
evening,  the  usual  Conceit  at  Marybone  Gardens,  to 
w^hich  will  be  added  two  grand  or  double-bassoons,  made 
by  Mr.  Stanesby,  junior,  the  greatness  of  whose  sound 
surpasses  that  of  any  other  bass-instrument  whatsoever ; 
never  performed  with  before."  Six  months  afterward, 
in  the  accompaniment  to  the  air,  "  Let  the  pealing  organ," 
of  Allegro^  Penseroso  ed  Moderate^  Handel  wrote  has- 
sons  e  basson  grosso.  He  deemed  it  impossible  to  in- 
crease the  orchestra  more  than  he  did  ;  but  he  carried  it 
beyond  all  the  dimensions  to  Avhich  it  had  attained  up  to 
his  time.  Pope  makes  allusion  to  this  in  the  Dunciad^ 
when  he  compares  him  to 

" bold  Briareus  with  a  hundred  hands." 


In  the  second  edition  of  that  satire,  "  with  the  illustra- 

7* 


154  L  I  F  E     O  F     II  A  X  D  E  L  , 

tioiis  of  Scriblerus,"  the  anonyraons  Scriblerns  (who  was 
no  other  than  Pope  himself,  assisted  by  Warburton),* 
comments  upon  this  verse  in  a  note  : — "  Mr.  Handel  had 
introduced  a  greater  number  of  hands  and  more  variety 
of  instruments  into  the  orchestra,  and  employed  even 
drums  and  cannon  to  make  a  fuller  chorus;  which 
proved  so  much  too  manly  for  the  fine  gentlemen  of 
his  age,  that  he  was  obliged  to  remove  his  mnsick  into 
Ireland."  The  cannon  is  probably  a  poetic  license  of 
Scriblerus. 

There  is,  nevertheless,  an  opinion  prevalent  now-a-days 
that  Handel's  instrumentation  is  very  poor  ;  but  this 
criticism  is  only  just  by  comparison  with  the  vast  dimen- 
sions which  have  been  given  to  modern  symphony.  In 
the  Julius  Ccesar  of  1723,  there  are  flutes,  hautboys,  bas- 
soons, trumpets,  a  harp,  a  viola  da  gamba  (the  violoncello 
had  apparently  not  yet  absorbed  this  instrument),  a  the- 
orbo, kettle  drums,  and  four  horns,  besides  what  is  called 
the  quatuor  of  stringed  instruments  ;  the  first  and  sec- 
ond violins,  the  viola  or  tenor,  the  violoncello,  and  the 
double-bass.  These  form  certainly  a  very  respectable 
orchestra.  Many  of  his  airs  have  a  simple  accompani- 
ment of  violoncello  with  harpsichord,  but  this  was  the 
result  of  a  principle  which  did  not  prevent  him  from  ex- 
ceptionally making  use  of  more  extensive  resources.  A 
solo  in  jRinaldo^  given  in  1711,  is  accompanied  by  four 
trumpets  and  kettle  drums  (4  tromhe  e  timpani).  Com- 
posers were  then  extremely  careful  not  to  smother  up  the 
voice  with  the  harmony,  and,  without  desiring  to  retro- 
grade, it  must  be  admitted  that  the  development  of  the 
theatrical  orchestra  is  not  invariably  a  merit.  It  has  now 
stepped  out  of  its  proper  place  ;  for  it  no  longer  accom- 

*  Dr.  Warton,  in  his  edition  of  Pope's  works,  inserts  the  notes  of 
Scriblerus  to  the  fourth  book  of  the  Dunciad^  sayiuof,  "  It  was  thought 
im};)roper  to  omit  the  many  notes  in  this  fourth  book  marked  (P),  be- 
cause they  were  the  joint  work  of  Pope  and  Warburton,  and  nothing  of 
Mr.  Pope  ouirlit  to  be  lost." 


HIS  ORCHESTRAL  RESOURCES.      155 

pnnies,  but  takes  an  equal  sliare  of  the  performance;  and 
the  artists,  in  order  to  domineer  over  its  thunders,  are 
often  compelled  to  sing  with  all  the  power  of  their  lungs. 
This  prodigality  of  sound  has  enlarged  our  pleasures, 
but  at  the  expense  of  their  delicacy.  It  has  given  birth 
to  the  bellowing  system — a  contagious  and  very  danger- 
ous malady.  How  many  ruined  and  shattered  voices  are 
we  compelled  to  listen  to,  Avithout  counting  those  which 
can  no  longer  make  a  public  exhibition  of  their  sad  state ! 
And  to  what  shall  this  be  attributed,  if  not  to  the  man- 
ner in  which  singers  are  compelled  to  abuse  their  vocal 
ficulties,  in  order  to  make  head  against  the  excess  of  in- 
strumentation ? 

With  the  exception  of  the  clarionet"^  the  cornet-a-piston, 
and  the  ophicleide  (which  were  not  then  invented),  Han- 
del had  at  his  disposal  all  the  instruments  which  are  now 
known,  as  well  as  many  others  which  are  no  longer  used 
— such  as  the  viola  da  gamba,  the  violetta  marina,  the 
theorbe,  the  lute,  the  double-lute,  and  the  cornet ;  but 
neither  at  the  opera,  nor  in  the  church,  did  he  employ 
them  all,  as  it  is  now  the  custom  to  do.  To  have  done 
so  would  have  seemed  monotonous  to  him.t      According 

*  See  Appendix  J. 

t  Handel  was  as  careful  to  vary  tlie  voices  of  tlie  choruses  as  the  in- 
struments of  the  orchestra,  and  he  constantly  chansjed  them.  In  the 
Chandos  Anthems,  the  first,  fourth,  sixth,  eighth,  ninth,  and  tenth  are  in 
three  parts — that  is  to  say,  for  three  voices  ;  or,  to  speak  still  more 
clearly,  for  tliree  kinds  of  voices — the  soprano,  the  tenor,  and  the  bass. 
The  third,  fifth,  seventh,  and  eleventh  are  for  four  voices — the  contralto 
added.  The  second,  ninth,  and  twelfth  are  for  five  voices — the  counter- 
tenor added.  In  the  Utrecht  Te  Deum,  "The  Cherubims"  and  "Thou 
art"  are  for  five  voices  \  "  Day  by  day"  is  a  double  cliorus  in  seven  parts 
— on  the  one  side,  two  sopranos  and  a  tenor;  and  on  the  other,  two  con- 
traltos, a  tenor,  and  a  bass.  "  Se  parli,"  of  Pa/'fiasso  in  Festa,  is  a  chorus 
for  seven  voices — two  sopranos,  two  contraltos,  two  tenors,  and  a  bass  ; 
and  the  Gloria,  "  Glory  to  thee,  Father,"  of  the  Jubilate,  is  for  eight 
voices,  disposed  like  the  preceding,  with  the  addition  of  a  second  bass. 
In  Israel  in  Egypt,  out  of  twenty-eight  choruses,  there  are  not  less  than 
seventeen  which  are  double  choruses  in  eight  parts — two  sopranos,  two 
contraltos,  two  tenors,  and  two  bassos.  Four  out  of  the  fourteen  choruses 
in  BeWhazzar  are  for  six  different  parts;  "  Eecall,  O  King,"  and  "By 


156  LIFE     OF    HANDEL. 

to  his  fancy  or  liis  judgment,  and  according  to  the  sub- 
ject which  he  had  in  hand,  he  neglected  the  use  of  some 
one  or  other.  But  let  no  one  be  deceived  by  this :  he 
knew  very  well  how  to  make  a  noise  when  he  was  so  dis- 
posed. In  the  MS.  of  his  Fireicorks  Music,  the  overtui-e 
has  twenty-four  hautboys,  twelve  bassoons,  nine  trum- 
pets, nine  horns,  three  pairs  of  kettle  drums,  a  serpent, 
and  a  double  bass  !  The  serpent  is  scratched  out,  for  it 
was  a  recent  invention,  and  very  probably  the  composer 
could  not  lind  any  one  clever  enough  to  please  him  upon 
it ;  but  he  evidently  wished  to  use  it,  and  (serpent  apart) 
what  remains  must  have  counted  for  somethitig  in  1749. 
Nevertheless,  Handel  had  been  already  preceded  in  that 
direction.  There  is  nothing  new  under  the  sun.  Per- 
haps the  sun  itself  is  an  imitation  of  a  mastodon  sun, 
which  formed  the  center  of  some  planetary  system  ante- 
rior to  ours.  But  while  we  wait  patiently  until  the  dis- 
ciples of  Herschel  and  Arago  put  on  their  spectacles  to 
read  the  history  of  the  ante-solar  system,  let  us  refer  to 
the  General  Advertiser  of  the  20th  of  October,  1744, 
where  we  shall  find  this  advertisement : — "  At  the  Lin- 
coln's Inn  Theater  will  be  performed  a  serenata  and  an 
interlude,  called  Love  and  Folly,  set  to  music  by  Mi-. 
Gaillard.  To  be  concluded  with  a  new  Concerto  Grosso 
of  24  bassoons,  accompanied  by  Signor  Caporale  on 
the  violoncello,  intermixed  with  Duettos  by  4  double- 
bassoons,  accompanied  by  a  German   flute ;   the  whole 

slow  degree" — two  sopranos,  two  contraltos,  and  two  bassos;  "Why, 
faithless  river" — two  sopranos,  two  altos,  a  tenor,  and  a  bass  ;  "  Tell  it 
out  among  the  Heathen" — one  soprano,  two  altos,  two  tenors,  and  one 
bass.  Out  of  nineteen  choruses  in  Deborah^  five  are  for  eight  voices, 
seven  are  for  five,  and  two  are  for  six.  Out  of  the  fourteen  choruses  of 
Solomon,  there  are  six  double  choruses  for  eight  voices,  and  five  for  five 
voices,  etc.,  etc. 

When  a  chorus  which  is  written  for  two  sopranos  and  a  tenor  is  called 
a  chorus  in  three  parts,  or  three  voices,  the  reader,  not  intimately  ac- 
quainted with  musical  terms,  should  understand  that  the  first  part  is 
written  for  soprano  voices ;  the  second  part,  differing  from  the  first,  is 
written  also  for  soprano  voices,  and  the  third  for  tenor  voices. 


HIS    ORCnESTRAL    RESOURCES.  157 

blended  with  numbers  of  violins,  luiutboys,  fifes,  tvom- 
bony's,  Frencli-liorns,  trumpets,  drums,  and  kettle  drums, 
etc." 

The  et  cetera  is  superb  !  It  may  be  supposed  that  the 
bassoon  had  then  become  a  favorite  instrument,  since 
twenty-four  bassoon-players,  without  reckoning  the  per- 
formers on  the  four  double-bassoons,  were  so  readily 
obtained. 

Handel  knew  how,  upon  occasion,  to  blow,  at  a  single 
blast,  fifty-six  horns,  hautboys,  trumpets,  and  bassoons ; 
but  he  reserved  such  effects  for  symphonies  to  be  played 
in  the  open  air.  Nevertheless,  his  ordinary  orchestra  was 
much  stronger  than  it  is  commonly  sup[)Osed  to  have 
been.  People  are  certainly  deceived  by  his  MSS.,  and 
by  the  editions  of  his  publisher  Walsh.  Walsh  used  to 
econoinize  the  expenses  of  engraving  by  suppressing 
many  of  the  accompaniments;  and  he,  to  save  time,  only 
WH'ote  the  leading  parts  when  he  composed,  leaving  it  to 
the  copyists  to  multiply  them  according  to  his  instruc- 
tions. Thus,  in  the  MS.  oi  Sosarme^  the  duet,  "Tu  caro 
sei,"  has,  on  the  line  of  the  first  voice,  Frimo  cembalo 
con  i  siioi  hassi  (harpsichord  1",  with  its  basses) ;  on  the 
line  of  the  second  voice.  Cembalo  2*^",  colla  teorha  e  i 
suoi  bassl  (harpsichord  2'^%  with  the  theorba  and  its 
basses) ;  and  on  the  line  of  the  two  voices  together — 
Tutd  ma  inayi^  pianissimo.  This  duet  w^as,  therefore, 
accompanied  by  two  harpsichords  having  each  its  special 
basses.  No  one  knows  any  thing  about  this  ;  for  neither 
Walsh  nor  Arnold  (both  of  whom  printed  Sosarme)  make 
any  mention  of  it.  Handel  most  certainly  had  two  harp- 
sichords in  his  orchestra ;  for  in  the  MS.  of  Orlando 
may  be  found,  three  or  four  times  on  the  bass-line, 
Senza  bassi^  e  senza  cembali — (without  basses  and  with- 
out har[)sichords) — although  they  were  not  indicated 
before.  Their  presence  on  the  bass-line  was  understood, 
and  the  authoi-  only  mentioned  them  when  it  became 
necessary  to  sus{)end  their  action.     It  is  known,  tradi- 


158  LIFE     OP    HANDEL. 

tioiially,  that  lie  used  twelve  first  and  twelve  second 
violins ;  and  it  may  be  seen  from  his  MS.  that  he  very 
frequently  added  instruments  in  ripieno — that  is  to  say, 
extras  in  the  symphonies  and  the  tutti.  Many  of  the 
songs  in  Deborah  have  parts  for  bassoons  in  ripieno^  and 
other  parts  for  violoncelli  ripieni.  This  oratorio  had, 
consequently,  not  less  than  four  bassoons  and  four  vio- 
loncellos in  its  accompaniment ;  and  the  strongest  operas 
in  our  day  have  no  more.  Let  us  not  forget  the  testi- 
mony of  Quantz,  who  writes,  in  his  Memoirs  (1734),  that 
"Handel's  band  is  uncommonly  powerful." 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  he  made  use  of  the  side 
drum  ;  although,  according  to  the  ideas  tlien  prevalent, 
it  must  have  seemed  to  be  an  enormity.  On  his  MS.  of 
Giustino  he  has  written,  at  the  end  of  the  last  scene, 
jSuono  di  trombl  e  tamburi  (sound  of  trumpets  and  side 
drums) — drums  in  the  plural.  So  also  in  the  MS.  of 
Joshua^  at  the  reprise  of  the  chorus,  "  See  the  conquer- 
ing," Handel  has  written,  Drimis  ad  libitum,  the  second 
time.  Neither  liere  nor  in  Giustino  is  there  a  special 
part  wiitten  for  the  side  drums,  but  nevertheless  their 
employment  is  formally  recognized.  It  is  the  absence 
of  a  sjjecial  part  which  proves  that  drums  were  used,  and 
not  kettle  drums ;  for  the  latter  are  never  left  ad  libitum^ 
and  when  Handel  referred  to  them  it  was  always  under 
the  Italian  name  tympani. 

Side  drums  are  now  added  to  the  quick  march  in  Ju- 
das Maccahmus^  although  they  are  not  indicated  by  the 
oi'iginal  score.  This  is  perhaps  not  a  happy  modern  li- 
cense ;  for,  according  to  Burney,  it  is  a  tradition  which 
dates  from  as  far  back  as  Handel  himself: — "In  the  col- 
lection of  the  Earl  of  Aylesford,  formed  by  the  late  Mr. 
Jennyns,  are  preserved  MS.  of  Handel,  including  a  con- 
certo for  French-horns  and  side  drums,  with  the  march 
in  Judas  Maecabmus?'''^     This  assertion  is  confirmed  by 

*  Pao^e  45  of  the  Commemoratioiu 


UNEXAMINED     MANUSCRIPTS.  159 

a  book  publisluMl  by  tlio  Society  of  Concerts  of  Ancient 
Music,  wliich  says  (Sixth  Concert  of  the  year  178G,  15th 
of  March)  : — "A  niaiuiscript  Concerto  for  liorns,  trum- 
pets, drunis^  etc.,  from  tlie  Earl  of  Aylesford's  collection." 
Unfortunately,  tiie  present  lord  has  lost  all  trace  of  the 
MSS.  left  by  his  ancestor.*  The  London  Magazine  for 
1761,t  makes  mention  also  of  an  entertainment  given  at 
Guildhall,  at  which  had  been  executed  "  the  march  of 
Judas  3Iaccahceus  witli  side  drums." 

If  the  instrumental  portions  of  Handel's  oratorios,  as 
they  were  executed  under  his  direction,  had  not  been 
burned  at  the  destruction  of  Covent  Garden  Theater  in 
1808,  we  should  doubtless  have  been  astonished  at  their 
amplitude,  for  we  should  there  have  found  the  "  Briareus 
with  a  hundred  hands."  A  few  scattered  fragments 
serve  to  show  that  he  sometimes  added  extra  accompani- 
ments. The  Buckingham  Palace  treasures  have  hitherto 
remained  unexplored,  and  the  fact  does  not  much  re- 
dound to  the  honor  of  the  English  musicians.  They 
have  only  examined  the  ^ISS.  of  a  few  popular  oratorios, 
the  publication  of  which  seemed  likely  to  protit  some 
publisher.  Mr.  Lacy  has  subjected  the  whole  collection 
to  a  professional  examination  on  my  account ;  and  his 
labors,  which  certainly  did  not  extend  over  less  than 
three  months  (the  fruit  of  wliich  will  be  found  in  the 
"  Catalogue  of  Works"),  have  revealed  llicts  which  no- 
body suspected,  Mozart  introduced  flutes,  trombones, 
and  French-liorns  into  his  instrumental  addition  to  The 
Messiah;  but  in  so  doing  he  only  partly  did  over  again 
what  the  author  had  already  done  !  The  volume  of  MSS. 
(which  has  been  entitled  Sketches)  contains  a  piece  of 
instrumentation  which  evidently  a})plies  to  the  chorus, 
"  Lift  up  your  gates."     It  is  thus  arranged  : 

*  See  "  Catalogue."     Note  on  the  Ghandos  Antliems^  1720. 
+  Page  600. 


160  LIFE    OF    nANDEL. 


Violin  1° 
Violin  2° 
Viole. 
Corno  1° 
Corno  2° 
i  Ilautb  1° 
Hautb  2° 
Bassons. 
Corno  1° 


I  Corno  2° 
\  Hautb  1° 
I  Hautb  2° 
(^  pjassons. 
Violoni    tutti    (literally,    all    the 
large  violins — that  is,  the  double-basses  and  violoncellos). 

If  the  examination  of  Handel's  MSS.  had  not  been  de- 
ferred until  now,  this  page  would  certainly  have  light- 
ened the  labors  of  Mozart! 

And  this  is  not  an  isolated  fact.  In  the  same  volume 
there  is  an  arrangement  of  the  same  nature  for  "  Jeho- 
vah crowned,"  "Through  the  nation,"  and  "He  comes," 
in  Esther;  and  for  "He  found  them  guilty,"  of  the  Oc- 
casional Oratorio.  Who  can  say  that  there  were  not 
many  similar  things  in  those  leaves  which,  having  been 
abandoned  to  the  copyists,  are  now  lost? 

But  Handel  was  a  musician  not  only  of  great  judg- 
ment, but  also  of  extreme  delicacy.  He  husbanded  his 
means,  and  did  not  always  employ  them  at  once.  And 
this  is  an  example  which  is  not  much  followed  in  these 
days.  It  is  stated  that  an  old  manager  of  a  certain  Lon- 
don theater,  seeing,  at  a  reheai-sal,  that  the  horn-players 
were  quiet,  asked  them  why  they  did  not  play.  On  their 
answering  that  they  were  counting  their  "  rests,"  the  in- 
dignant manager  exclaimed,  "  Rests,  indeed  !  I  pay  you 
to  jylay.,  and  not  to  rest ;  so,  either  play  up  or  go  away." 
The  composers  of  the  present  day  belong  a  little  too 
much  to  the  same  school  as  this  good   man  ;  for  they 


ANCIENT    AND     MODERN    TASTES.  161 

seem  to  think  that  the  instrumentalists,  the  kettle  drum- 
mer included,  are  not  worth  their  pay  if"  they  are  not 
scraping,  trumpeting,  and  rattling  away  from  one  end  of 
the  score  to  the  other.  This  has  spoilt  the  taste  of  the 
age ;  for  it  has  led  people  to  believe  that  the  more  hands 
there  are  at  work,  the  finer  the  music  must  be.  A  great 
mistake ;  for  the  sole  efiect  is  to  make  it  more  costly.  If 
people  would  pay  attention,  they  would  perceive  that  a 
band  of  seven  hundred  musicians  can  not  produce  any 
greater  efiect  than  one  which  has  only  four  hundred 
well-disciplined  performers.  The  sound  must  be  pro- 
portioned to  the  space  in  which  it  is  to  be  heard.  Seven 
hundred  musicians,  or  twice  as  many,  might  be  very 
suitable  for  the  Templp  of  Carnac,  or  the  Crystal  Palace, 
but  in  the  greatest  concert-rooms,  the  sound  produced 
by  so  many  would  be  broken  and  confused  by  the  walls. 
They  would  smother  each  other,  like  an  army  placed  in 
a  country  too  small  to  permit  of  its  developing  itself;  so 
that  the  more  numerous  it  is,  the  more  dangerous  it  be- 
comes to  itself.  I  do  not  wish  for  a  step  backward,  but 
only  that  labor  should  not  be  wasted. 

The  organs  of  hearing  remain  the  same  as  they  have 
ever  been,  but  human  sensations  and  tastes  become  mod- 
ified. Modern  ears  have  acquired  larger  appetites  than 
ancient  ones.  They  are  even  too  fond  of  noise,  which 
delights  children  and  savages.  The  imitators  of  the  in- 
imitable Rossini  have  caused  this  corruption ;  and  now 
that  people  have  become  accustomed  to  large  orchestras, 
they  are  not  contented  with  those  of  Handel.  I  have 
twice  heard  Bach's  admirable  Passion  executed  in  the 
raiost  perfect  manner  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Bennett, 
precisely  as  it  Avas  composed,  and  I  must  confess  that  on 
each  occasion,  during  the  first  half  hour,  the  very  slight 
accompaniment,  with  its  predominance  of  hautboys,  ap- 
peared somewhat  peculiar.  I  am  very  far,  therefore, 
from  complaining  of  a  slight  augmentation  of  the  Han- 
delian  mstrumentation ;  but  what  I  wish  to  point  out  is, 


162  LIFE    OF     HANDEL. 

that  deficient  in  strength  as  it  may  appear  to  us  all  now, 
his  cotemporaries  reproached  him  with  exaggerating  the 
forces  of  harmony,  and  with  being  fond  of  noise.  His- 
tory has  left  more  than  one  curious  proof  of  this.  In 
the  Reminiscences  of  Angela^  we  find ;  "  *  *  * 
This  occurred  during  a  sudden  storm  of  wind,  thunder, 
and  lightning.  The  trumpets  were  sounding,  and  at  the 
moment  a  tremendously  loud  clap  of  thunder  burst,  as  it 
were,  right  over  the  palace,  which  seemed  to  appall 
many  present ;  when  the  king,  addressing  himself  to 
Lord  Pembroke,  exclaimed,  '  How  sublime !  what  an  ac- 
companiment !  how  this  would  have  delighted  Handel.'  " 
Listen  also  to  a  former  admirer  of  Handel,  who  deserted 
"the  friend  of  thunder,"  because  he  "tore  his  ear  to 
pieces :"  "  There  was  a  time  when  man-mountain  Handel 
had  got  the  superiority,  notwithstanding  many  attempts 
had  been  made  to  keep  him  down,  and  might  have  main- 
tained it  probably,  had  he  been  content  to  have  pleased 
people  in  their  own  way ;  but  his  evil  genius  would  not 
suifer  it ;  for  he  imagining,  forsooth,  that  nothing  could 
obstruct  him  in  his  career  while  at  the  zenith  of  his 
greatness,  broached  another  kind  of  music,  more  full, 
more  grand  (as  his  admirers  are  pleased  to  call  it),  and, 
to  make  the  noise  the  greater,  caused  it  to  be  performed 
by  at  least  double  the  number  of  voices  and  instruments 
than  ever  were  heard  in  the  theater  before.  Li  this,  he 
not  only  thought  to  rival  our  patron  god,  but  others 
also,  particularly  Colics,  Neptune^  and  Jupiter  ;  for,  at 
one  time,  I  have  expected  the  house  to  be  blown  down 
with  his  artificial  wind  ;  at  another  time,  that  the  sea 
would  have  overflowed  its  banks  and  swallowed  us  up. 
But  beyond  every  thing,  his  thunder  was  most  intoler- 
able. I  shall  never  get  the  horrid  rumbUng  of  it  out  of 
my  head.  This  was  literally,  you  will  say,  taking  us  by 
storm.  Hah !  hah !  But  mark  the  consequence.  By 
this  attempt  to  personate  Apollo  he  shared  the  fate  of 
JPhaeton  /  Heidegger  revolted,  and  with  him  most  of  the 


COMPLAINTS     OF    HIS    NOISINESS.  163 

prime  nobility  and  gentry.  From  this  hapj^y  era  we 
may  date  the  growth  and  establishment  o^  Italian  micsic 
in  our  island.  Then  came  the  healing  balm  of  JIasse, 
Vinci^  Xiampugna7ii^  Pescetti,  Gluck^  etc.  Perhaps  it 
will  be  asked  by  some  of  my  readers,  what  became  of  the 
old  German  ?  Why,  like  a  giant  thrown  on  his  back,  he 
made  vast  struggles  to  get  up  again,  but  in  vain,"  etc.* 

We  may  now  ask  what  has  become  of  Ilasse,  of 
Vinci,  and  of  Lampugnani  ?  Even  their  names  would 
scarcely  be  known,  if  they  were  not  in  a  manner  mixed 
with  the  history  of  "the  old  German." 

The  pencil  of  Goupy  offers  us  the  same  criticism  under 
a  different  form.  A  caricature,  which  is  attributed  to 
that  scene-painter,f  exhibits  the  "  man-mountain"  at  the 
organ,  with  a  boar's  head  furnished  with  enormous  tusks 
and  a  colossal  wig,  upon  which  perches  the  bird  of  soli- 
tude ;  alluding  to  his  passionate  temper  and  habits  of  re- 
tirement. In  the  midst  of  the  chamber,  which  is  in 
great  disorder,  are  kettle  drums,  a  hunting-horn,  a  side 
drum,  and  an  enormous  trumpet ;  and  through  an  open 
window  are  visible  a  donkey's  head  braying,  and  a  park 
of  artillery,  which  is  fired,  without  cannoneers,  only  by 
the  blazing  music  of  the  organist.  An  echo  of  these  can- 
nons is  heard  again  at  the  end  of  a  burlesque  piece  writ- 
ten by  Sheridan  when  he  was  young,^;  in  which  he  brings 
a  poet  upon  the  stage  who  is  conducting  the  rehearsal 
of  his  play.  At  the  moment  when  Jupiter  proclaims 
himself  to  be  the  sovereign  of  the  skies,  the  poet  fires  off 
a  pistol  at  the  wings,  confidentially  observing  to  the  pub- 
lic, "  This  hint,  gentlemen,  I  took  from  Handel."  What 
would  Goupy  and  Sheridan  think  of  us  now,  if  they  could 
hear  us  complaining  of  the  scantiness  of  this  firearm 
musician's  orchestration  ?§ 

*  The  AH  of  Oomposlng  Music. 

t  "  Le-Nuove  Scene  sono  del  Sigr.  Giusseppe  Goupy."  Opera-book 
ofAdmetus,  1727.  X  Quoted  by  Mr.  TowDseud. 

§  Since  the  subject  has  introduced  a  reference  to  Goupy's  caricature,  let 


164  LIFE     OF    HANDEL. 

But  Handel  had  obstacles  to  overcome  of  greater  im- 
poitance  than  the  gross  jocularities  of  his  short-sighted 
opponents.  There  was  nothing  that  was  not  used 
against  him.  Some  persons  pushed  their  hatred  to  such 
an  extravagance  as  to  accuse  him  of  profanity,  because 
he  took  sacred  subjects  into  the  theater,  and  caused 
verses  of  the  Bible  to  be  sung  there  !*     This  was  a  very 

me  complete  the  description  of  it.  The  satirist  ridicules  the  gastronomic 
propensities  of  Handel  by  making  him  sit  upon  a  little  heer-barrel,  and 
attaching  a  ham  and  fowls  to  the  pipes  of  the  organ  ;  a  turbot  is  set  upon 
a  pile  of  books,  and  the  floor  of  the  apartment  is  strewn  with  oyster- 
shells.  The  monster  has  a  scroll  beneath  his  feet,  upon  which  is  written 
"  Pension,  Benefit,  Nobility,  Friendship,"  And  behind  the  organ  stands 
jEsop,  who  offers  him  a  mirror,  as  much  as  to  say,  "  See  what  you  are." 
Above  the  picture  is  inscribed,  "  The  true  representation  and  character, 
etc. ;"  and  below  are  these  four  lines : 

"  Strange  monsters  have  adorned  the  stage, 
Not  Afric's  coast  produces  more  ; 
And  yet  no  land,  nor  clime,  nor  age, 
Have  equaled  this  harmonious  boar." 

Goupy,  who  reproaches  Handel  with  violating  even  friendship,  had 
probably  received  one  of  his  rough  thrusts.  The  print  was  reproduced 
on  another  occasion.  The  same  subject,  the  same  ideas,  and  the  same 
details,  but  diiferently  treated,  and  very  badly  drawn.  On  the  scroll 
of  this  we  find,  "  I  am  myself  alone ;"  and  the  inscription  is  likewise 
changed  into  "The  Charming  Brute  :" 

"  The  figure's  odd — yet  who  would  think 
Within  this  tunn  of  meat  and  drink, 
There  dwells  a  soul  of  soft  desires, 
And  all  that  harmony  inspires  ? 

"  Can  contrast  sucli  as  this  be  found 
Upon  the  globe's  extensive  round? 
There  can — yon  hogshead  in  his  seat : 
His  sole  devotion  is — to  eat." 

This  print,  which  arose  from  a  not  very  inventive  hatred,  is  published 
"  conformably  to  the  law  of  1754."  Copies  are  now  rarer  than  those  of 
the  original  caricature,  which  is  supposed  to  have  belonged  to  1730.  I 
know  of  only  one  im.pression,  which  belongs  to  Mr.  Hawkins,  a  very 
distinguished  and  obliging  collector. 

*  Mainwaring. 


QUARREL     WITH     SENESINO.  165 

grave  accusation  at  the  time,  and  it  will  presently  be 
seen  that  it  greatly  delayed  the  success  of  The  Messiah. 

In  spite  of  all,  Deborah  and  JEsthey\  with  Orlando  and 
Floridante  occupied  the  season  of  1733.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  the  English  oratorios  were  sung  by  the  Italian 
company.  Burney  is  in  error  M'hen  he  says  \\vAXOrlando 
was  the  last  work  in  which  Handel  wn-ote  specially  for 
Senesino.  His  name  and  that  of  Montagnana,  and  the 
Signore  Strada,  Negri,  and  Bertolli,  may  still  be  found 
written  in  pencil  by  Handel  himself,  in  the  copy  oi  Deb- 
orah^ which  forms  part  of  the  collection  of  volumes 
which  he  used  for  conducting. 

The  season  of  1733  terminated  on  the  9th  of  June. 
It  had  been  very  much  agitated  by  these  dissensions,  of 
which  Paolo  Rolli's  letter  and  Goiipy's  caricature  are  the 
echoes.  Handel  was  of  a  very  passionate  disposition. 
Proud  and  imperious  as  he  was,  he  valued  himself  far 
beyond  those  Avho  intei-preted  him,  and  he  seems  to  have 
considered  them  too  much  in  the  light  of  mere  instru- 
ments. Senesino,  who  was  also  conscious  of  his  own 
merit,  and  who  was  naturally  proud  of  the  applause  of 
the  public,  sometimes  put  himself  in  opposition  to  the 
will  of  the  passionate  composer-manager.  This  made 
the  latter  only  the  more  absolute,  and  in  the  end  their 
engagement  was  broken  off. 

Haughty  as  he  was,  and  in  spite  of  all  that  has  been 
said  on  this  matter,  I  do  not  believe  that  Handel  was 
wholly  to  blame  in  this  business.  A  tyrant  is  nothing 
l)ut  a  slave  turned  inside  out,  and  he  had  too  little  of  the 
vile  nature  of  a  slave  ever  to  be  a  tyrant.  Beard,  Lowe, 
Reinhold,  Signora  Frazi,  Signora  Galli,  and  Mrs.  Gibber, 
all  the  artists  permanently  resident  hi  England  whom  he 
employed,  remained  with  him  from  the  moment  at  which 
they  made  their  appearance  in  his  works  down  to  the 
end  of  his  life  ;  which  is  a  very  good  proof  that  com- 
merce with  him  was  not  always  intolerable.  Senesino, 
on  the  other  hand,  was  not  a  model  for  sweetness  of 


166  LIFE    OF     HANDEL. 

temper.  Quantz  relates,  in  his  Memoirs^  that  Senesino 
had  quarrels  with  the  chapel-master  Ileinechen,  which 
brought  about  the  dissolution  of  the  Dresden  company 
in  1719.*  Once,  at  a  rehearsal  in  London,  he  offended 
Mrs.  Anastasia  Robinson  (afterward  Lady*Peterborough) 
so  grievously,  "  that  Lord  Peterborough  publicly  and 
violently  caned  him  behind  the  scenes."!  The  time  is 
past,  and  we  should  be  glad  of  it,  when  singers  allowed 
themselves  to  be  caned  by  lords. 

Many  members  of  the  nobility  remained  fliithful  to 
the  cause  of  Bononcini,  who  was  patronized  by  the  cele- 
brated Duke  of  Marlborouf^h.  The  Duke's  dano-hter. 
Lady  Godolphin,  who  obtained  after  his  death  the  title 
of  Duchess  of  Marlborough,  was  the  soul  of  this  league. 
She  took  the  favorite  to  reside  in  her  house,  where  she 
for  a  long  time  gave  two  concerts  every  week,  consisting 
entirely  of  his  mnsic.  She  allowed  hirh  besides  a  pension 
of  £500,  which  was  worth  at  least  as  much  as  £800  in 
the  present  day.  This  fact  is  attested  by  Mainwaring, 
Hawkins,  and  Burney.  With  certain  exceptions,  the 
English  aristocracy  had,  from  the  beginning,  no  great 
inclination  for  Handel.  Accustomed  to  be  flattered  by 
artists,  they  were  shocked  at  the  dignity  which  he  pre- 
served toward  every  body.  Burney  remarks,  with  his 
habitual  exactness,  in  speaking  of  the  subscribers  to  the 
opera  of  Alessandro  (1726): — "It  is  remarkable  tliat 
among  the  subscribers,  not  above  two  or  three  of  the 
directors  of  the  Royal  Academy,  or  hardly  any  other 
great  personages,  appear  on  the  list,  though  the  publica- 
tion i^recded  the  quarrel  with  the  nobility  a  considerable 
time."  On  the  other  hand,  there  are  none  but  dukes, 
marquises,  earls,  and  right  honorables  in  the  subscription 
list  for  the  two  volumes  of  Cantate  e  Duetti^  published 
by  Bononcini  in  1722,  at  the  price  of  two  guineas  per 
copy,  although  the  volume  had  not  more  than  ninety-nine 

*  Burney,  p.  [*22]  of  the  Account  of  the  Commemoration. 
t  Walpole,  quoted  by  Burney,  p.  297. 


THE    NOBLES    AGAINST    HANDEL.  167 

pages.  It  brouglit  him  in,  it  is  said,  £1,000.  Some  of 
his  admirers  subscribed  for  two  and  even  five  copies  ; 
the  Riglit  lion.  Mr.  Pulteney,  ten  ;  the  Duke  of  Queens- 
bury,  twenty-five ;  his  wife,  the  Duchess  of  Queensbury, 
twenty-five ;  Lord  Carletou,  thirty ;  the  Countess  of 
Sunderland,  fifty-five,  etc.  All  these  wealthy  adversa- 
ries of  Handel  naturally  espoused  the  cause  of  Senesino 
at  the  outset  of  the  quarrel,  and,  as  is  always  the  case, 
the  more  they  meddled,  the  more  they  managed  to  em- 
bitter it.  When  the  majority  of  the  nobles  who  patron- 
ized the  King's  Theater,  saw  an  artist  of  great  talent 
banished  from  the  stage,  they  expressed  their  regrets 
somewhat  sharply,  and  ended  by  demanding  that  Sene- 
sino should  be  retained. 

Handel  was  one  of  those  few  men  who  defend  their 
honor  to  the  death.  He  did  not  know  what  it  was  to 
retreat,  and  he  would  have  sacrificed  every  thing  rather 
than  submit  to  a  humiliation.     Like  Cassius,  he  said  : 

"  I  can  not  tell  what  you  and  other  men 
Think  of  this  life  ;  but,  for  my  single  self, 
I  had  as  lief  not  be  as  live  to  be 
In  awe  of  such  a  thing  as  I  myself." 

He  could  not  tolerate  that  a  man  of  whom  he  had  to 
complain  should  be  forced  upon  him,  and  he  replied  that 
Senesino  should  never  reappear  in  his  theater.  Ilis 
former  patrons  themselves  grew  indignant  at  such  resist- 
ance, became  excited  against  this  arrogant  man,  and, 
resolving  to  go  no  more  to  the  Haymai-ket,  they  gave 
up  the  boxes  which  they  had  hired  there,  and  joined  the 
Bononcini  faction,  in  order  that  they  might  have  else- 
where an  Italian  opera  with  the  favorite  singer.  All 
this  was  decided  even  before  the  close  of  the  season  on 
the  9th  of  June,  1*733  ;  for,  on  the  13th,  the  following 
advertisement  appeared  in  the  Daily  Post: — "  The  sub- 
scribers to  the  opera  in  which  Signor  Senesino  and  Sig- 
nora  Cuzzoni  are  to  perform,  are  desired  to  meet  at  Mr. 


168  LIFE     OF    HANDEL. 

Hickford's  great  room,  in  Panton -street,  on  Friday  next, 
at  eleven  o'clock,  in  order  to  settle  proper  methods  for 
carrying  on  tlie  subscription.  Such  persons  who  can  not 
be  present  are  desired  to  send  their  proxies." 

Signora  Cuzzoni  did  not  return  to  London  before 
1*734  ;  but  her  engagement  had  doubtless  been  concluded 
by  correspondence.  The  theater  in  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields 
was  hired,  and  they  sent  abroad  for  a  company. 

Perhaps  it  was  not  entirely  party-spirit  which  led  the 
nobility,  upon  whom  opera  principally  depends,  to  follow 
this  spoilt  child  Senesino.  Apart  from  his  great  talent, 
he  was  an  evirato,  or  male  soprano,  and  he  had  that  clear, 
silvery,  effeminate,  and  excessively  high  voice  which  is  pe- 
culiar to  that  class  of  singers,*  which  was  then  in  very  high 
flivor.  In  the  eighteenth  century,  an  alto  (counter-tenor), 
however  high  he  could  sing,  never  could  obtain  the  suc- 
cess of  the  Nicolinis,  the  Senesinos,  the  Farinellis,  and 
the  Caifarellis.  Colman,  in  all  the  period  of  time  which 
his  little  MS.  embraces  (that  is  to  say,  between  1712  and 
1734),  while  he  records  the  names  of  the  songstresses, 
the  evirati,  and  the  counter-tenors,  as  they  appeared  up- 
on the  English  stage,  does  not  take  the  trouble  of  men- 
tioning a  single  tenor,  or  a  single  basso.  Handel  shared 
the  mania  of  his  century  during  the  earlier  period  of  liis 
life.  The  four  parts  of  Trionfo  del  Tempo  are  for  two 
sopranos,  and  two  alti.  Out  of  the  seven  personages  in 
Sylla^  there  are  three  sopranos  (Metalla,  Flavia,  and 
Celia),  an  evirato  (Lepido),  and  two  counter-tenors  (Sylla 
and  Claudio).  The  bassos  were  considered  in  the  light 
of  a  disagreeable  necessity,  and  at  least  a  fourth  of  the 
early  operas  of  Handel  have  seldom  more  than  one  bass 
air.     He  even  despised  for  a  long  time  the  tenors,  of 

*  By  a  phenomenon  of  which  physiological  science  has  offered  no  ex- 
planation, the  effect  of  eunuchism  is  to  fix  the  voice  at  the  state  in  which 
it  is  at  the  time  when  the  execrable  operation  is  performed.  This  is  why 
these  singers  have  children's  voices.  Thanks  to  the  progress  of  human- 
ity, there  are  no  longer  any  evirati.  The  last  were  Creseentini  and  Vel- 
uti,  of  whom  amateurs  of  sixty  years'  experience  still  recount  wonders. 


FONDNESS     FOR     Iliail     VOICES.  1G9 

whom  not  one  is  to  be  found  in  Atnadigi^  Admeto^  Ri- 
cardo^  Ottone^  Slroe^Tolomeo^  Orlando^  and  GlidloCesare. 
He  became  very  much  modified  on  this  point  about  the 
middle  of  his  career,  and  he  gave  admirable  bass  airs  to 
Boschi,  Montagnana,  Waltz,  and  Reimschneider.  The 
principal  personages  in  his  oratorios  are  tenors  ;  but  the 
counter-tenors  and  the  high  sopranos  never  lost  their 
hold  upT)n  his  affections.  There  is  a  certain  singer  de- 
scribed as  "  the  boy"  among  the  voices  in  the  English 
Acts  of  1732,  Athalia  of  1733,  Israel  of  1738,  Sosarme 
of  1749,  and  Jephtha  of  175].*  One  might  almost  sup- 
pose that  it  was  the  everlasting  hoy  mentioned  in  the 
chorus  of  Semele^  "Now  Love,  that  everlasting  boy!" 
The  persistence  in  "  the  boy"  proves  that  Handel  always 
preserved  something  of  his  ancient  predilections,  only  he 
applied  them  better.  The  seraphic  charm  of  the  clear 
and  limpid  voices  of  children  touched  him.  That  strong 
and  austere  man  loved  grace  as  the  rude  Benvenuto 
Cellini  did,  who  could  never  resist  the  sweet  "fluting" 
of  his  young  and  melancholy  pupil,  Ascanio. 

What  has  just  been  observed  will  serve  to  explain 
more  completely  the  favor  which  Senesino  enjoyed,  and 
which  he  preserved  to  the  end.  In  the  Musical  Enter- 
tainer^ by  Bickham  (1737),  there  is  "The  Ladies  Lament- 
ation for  the  Loss  of  Senesino."  The  engraving  which 
adorns  this  complaint  represents  him  as  a  giant  clothed 
like  a  Roman  emperor,  with  women  kissing  the  hem  of 
his  coat  of  mail,  and  some  weeping.  On  the  other  side 
are  heaps  of  bags  of  gold,  being  carried  by  porters  to- 
ward the  frigate  in  which  he  is  about  to  embark. 

This  man  soon  became  the  rallyin^-point  for  all  the 
malcontents.  Bononcini  had  quitted  Great  Britain,  after 
a  discussion  of  which  the  details  are  sufficiently  curious 
to  excite  interest  even  now.  Li  addition  to  which,  some 
useful  notes  may  be  given  with  reference  to  the  cultiva- 

*  "  The  boy"  of  1732  was  called  Goodwill ;  that  of  1738,  Robhison  ; 
and  that  of  1749,  Savage. 

8 


170  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

tion  of  music  in  this  country.  The  documents  connected 
with  the  business  were  jiublished  in  a  pamphlet  (now 
exceedingly  rare)  which  appeared  in  1732.* 

"  To  SiGNOR  Antonio  Lotti,  at  Venice. 

"  London,  February  9,  1731.  (0.  S.) 
"  SiK — Several  of  the  most  eminent  professors  of  mu- 
sic in  this  city  have,  some  years  since,  established  a 
Musical  Academy,  not  for  the  management  of  theati"ical 
aifairs,  but  the  improvement  of  the  science,  by  searching 
after,  examining,  and  Iiearing  performed,  the  works  of 
the  masters  who  flourished  before  or  about  the  age  of 
Palestrina  j  however,  not  entirely  neglecting  those  of 
distinguished  rank,  lovers  of  music,  and  skillful  in  the 
performance,  have  desired  to  be  admitted  into  this  so- 
ciety ;  among  whom  we  shall  always  M'ith  pleasure  re- 
member Abbot  Stefani^  Bishop  of  Spi(/a,  who,  desiring 
to  have  his  name  entered  among  us,  was  unanimously 
chosen  our  president.  It  is  by  order  of  this  Academy, 
sir,  I  write  to  you  at  present.  The  occasion  I  shall  ex- 
plain to  you  in  as  short  a  manner  as  I  am  able :  One  of 
our  members  having  received  from  Venice  a  book  enti- 
tled, Duetti,  Terzetti  e  Madrigali^  and  having  looked  it 
over,  pitched  upon  the  XVIII  Madrigal,  the  only  one  for 
five  voices,  inscribed  La  Vita  Caduca^  beginning  '  In 
una  siepe  ombrosa,'  to  be  performed  in  the  Academy. 
Signor  JBononcini^  who  is  also  one  of  our  members,  and 
who,  three  or  four  years  before,  had  presented  us  this 
madrigal  as  his  own,f    being   informed  of  this,   imme- 

*  Letters  from  tlie  Academy  of  Ancient  Music,  etc. 

t  Hawkins,  who  was  himself  a  member  of  the  Academy,  says  twice 
(])p.  862  and  884)  that  it  was  Dr.  Greene  who  had  brought  him  the  mad- 
ri;;al,  as  being  by  his  friend  Bononcini.  When  the  affair  turned  against 
tlie  latter,  Greene  left  the  Academy,  declaring  that  he  was  calumniated. 
He  took  with  him  the  children  of  St.  PauPs  choir,  of  which  he  was  di- 
rector, and  established  concerts  at  the  Devil  Tavern,  near  Temple  Bar, 
which  caused  Handel  to  say  that  "  poor  Dr.  Greene  had  gone  to  the 
Devil."     Greene,  who,  aa  a  composer,  was  poor,  but  as  a  man  was  skill- 


LOTTI'S     MADRIGAL.  171 

diiitoly  sent  a  letter  to  the  Academy,  in  which,  havinf^ 
greatly  complained  of  the  person  who  introduced  it 
among  us  under  your  name,  lie  accuses  you  as  the  pla- 
giary of  his  works,  and  affirms  that  he  composed  this 
madrigal  thirty  years  ago,  exactly  as  it  is  printed  in  your 
book,  at  the  command  of  the  Emperor  Leopold  /  and, 
for  the  i^roof  of  this,  appeals  to  the  archives  of  that  em- 
peror. The  Academy,  entirely  impartial  between  you, 
not  more  favoring  him,  though  a  member,  than  you, 
known  to  them  only  from  your  reputation,  but  consult- 
ing the  honor  of  both,  ordered  me  to  write  this  letter  to 
you,  and  another  on  the  same  subject  to  M.  Fuchs^ 
chapel-master  to  the  emperor,  that  the  truth  being  dis- 
covered, the  real  author  may  receive  his  deserved  praise. 
I  don't,  therefore,  in  the  least  doubt  but  that  you  will 
have  so  much  regard  for  your  own  fame  and  reputa- 
tion among  us,  as  to  inform  us,  as  soon  as  possibly  you 
can,  how  this  matter  stands. 

"  Upon  this  occasion  of  writing,  the  Academy  have 

ful  and  adroit,  bore  Handel  no  good-will.  Hawkins  says — "  He  courted 
the  friendship  of  Mr.  Handel  with  a  degree  of  assiduity,  that,  to  say  tlie 
truth,  bordered  upon  servility ;  and  in  his  visits  to  him  at  Burlington 
House,  and  at  the  Duke  of  Chandos's,  was  rather  more  frequent  than 
welcome.  At  length  Mr.  Handel,  discovering  that  he  was  paying  the 
same  court  to  his  rival  Bononcini  as  to  himself,  would  have  nothing 
more  to  say  to  him,  and  gave  orders  to  be  denied  whenever  Greene  came 
to  visit  him."  Busby,  among  the  thousands  of  anecdotes  in  his  Concert 
Room^  has  this  one : — "  Dr.  Maurice  Greene,  whose  compositions,  whether 
for  the  church  or  the  chamber,  were  never  remarkably  fine,  havhig  solic- 
ited Handel's  perusal  and  opinion  of  a  solo  anthem  which  he  had  just 
finished,  was  invited  by  the  great  German  to  take  his  cotFee  with  him 
the  next  m  irning,  when  he  would  say  what  he  thought  of  it.  The  doc- 
tor was  punctual  in  his  attendance  ;  the  coftee  was  served,  and  a  variety 
of  topics  discussed,  but  not  a  word  said  by  Handel  concerning  the  com- 
position ;  at  length  Greene,  whose  patience  was  exliausted,  said,  with 
eagerness  and  anxiety,  whicli  he  could  no  longer  conceal,  '  Well,  sir,  but 
my  anthem— what  do  you  think  of  it  V  '  Oh,  your  antum  !  Ah,  why,  I 
did  tink  it  wanted  air.'  Dr.  Greene — '  Air,  sir  V  '  Yes,  air  ;  and  so  I 
did  hang  it  out  of  de  window  !'  "  This  story  is  gross,  and  gratuitously 
insulting,  and,  worse  still  (with  very  bad  taste),  it  is  complicated  by  a 
pun.  All  which  are  more  reasons  than  I  require  tu  disbelieve  it  ut- 
terly. 


172  LIFE    OP    HANDEL. 

ordered  me  to  add,  tli.it  if  you  will  please  to  communi- 
cate to  us  any  of  your  Avorks,  accommodated  to  our  in- 
stitution, such  as  moUets^  inasses,  or  other  church  pieces, 
for  four  or  more  voices,  with  or  without  instruments,  we 
shall  ever  acknowledge  the  favor,  and  very  gladly  repay 
all  expenses  of  copying  and  sending  the  papers.  We 
have  between  thirty  and  forty  voices,  and  as  many  in- 
struments. I  can't  doubt  but  that,  as  you  excel  so  much 
in  your  art,  you  must  feel  an  equal  love  for  it,  and  will 
therefore  wish  that  the  science  of  harmony  may  flourish 
in  every  part  of  the  world. — Yours,  etc., 

"  H.  Bishop." 

Tlie  original  of  this  letter  is  in  Latin  ;  Lotti  replied  in 
French : 

"  March  29,  1^31,  Yenicb. 

u  %  >k  %  As  to  the  occasion  of  your  Avriting,  I  con- 
fess truly,  sir,  that  I  was  extremely  surprised  to  see 
myself  charged  as  indebted  for  my  own  property ;  and, 
after  twenty-six  years  that  my  book  has  been  in  the 
hands  of  the  j^ublic,  to  find  myself  under  a  necessity 
of  proving  that  it  really  is  mine.  Had  this  been  repre- 
sented to  me  by  another,  I  would  have  appealed  to  the 
public  notoriety  of  the  fact,  and  have  retrenched  myself 
in  silence  ;  but  the  respect  I  owe  to  you,  and  to  the 
illustrious  body  you  represent,  obliges  me  to  satisfy  your 
request. 

"  The  Duetti,  Terzetti,  and  Madrigals  were  composed 
by  me  a  little  before  the  impression.  There  are  some 
professors  and  lovers  of  music  who,  with  their  own  eyes, 
saw  the  progress  of  the  madrigal  in  question,  who  sung 
it,  and  heard  it  rehearsed  from  the  rough  draught,  before 
it  was  wrote  out  fair.  The  verses,  '  In  una  siepe,'  etc., 
were  made  on  purpose,  and  given  me  by  the  Abbott 
Pariati^  who  was  then  at  Venice^  and  who  is  now  at 
Vien?iay  in  the  post  of  poet  to  his  imperial  majesty 


LOTTI'S    MADRIGAL.  173 

Charles  VI.     Now  for  the   occasion   of  printing  tliis 
madrigal. 

"  The  late  3f.  Marc  Antonio  Zanni^  vice  chapel-mas- 
ter to  his  majesty  the  Emperor  Leopold,  used,  from  time 
to  time,  to  send  me  his  compositions,  always  desiring 
that  I  would  send  him  some  of  mine.  I  sent  liim  the 
madrigal  for  five  voices,  '  In  una  siepe  ombrosa,'  and  he 
was  so  good  as  to  cause  it  to  be  sung  in  the  presence  of 
the  Emperor  Leopold. 

"  This,  sir,  is,  in  short,  the  history  you  required.  For 
reward  of  my  obedience,  I  only  desire  that  you  would 
be  very  sure  that  some  one  willing  to  do  M.  Bononcini 
an  ill  turn,  has  falsely  attributed  to  him  the  letter  writ- 
ten to  the  Academy  in  his  name  ;  for  it  is  incredible  that, 
learned  as  he  is,  he  should,  merely  out  of  gayety  of  heart, 
adopt  my  defects  for  his  own.  I  hope  there  will  appear 
some  misunderstanding  or  mistake,  and  waiting  the 
event,  I  am  easy,  having  learned  of  my  mastei-,  IMr. 
Legrenzi^  that  those  who  are  learned  in  music,  like  the 
illustrious  Academy,  know,  as  in  painting,  the  hand  of 
the  artist,  by  the  design,  the  drawing,  the  coloring,  etc., 
and  judge  of  authors  by  their  works,  and  not  of  works 
by  their  authors.  As  this  is  so,  I  ought,  sir,  to  be  more 
circumspect  in  sending  you  any  of  my  productions ;  but 
as  I  am  acquainted  with  the  generosity  of  your  nation,  I 
will  take  the  liberty,  the  first  opportunity,  of  sending 
you  some  composition  to  exercise  your  patience,  and 
shall  esteem  it  a  great  happiness  if  you  will  honor  me 
with  your  observations,  that  I  may  make  use  of  them  to 
my  own  advantage.  I  desire  you,  sir,  to  present  my 
compliments  to  the  illustrious  Academy  in  general,  and 
each  member  in  particular,  being,  with  all  veneration 
and  acknowledgment,  sir,  your  most  humble  and  most 
obliged  servant. 

"  Ant.  Lotti." 


174  LIFE    OF    HANDEL. 

The  remainder  of  the  coi-respondence  is  in  English. 
The  reply  of  the  Academy  was  as  follows: 

"To  Mr.  Lottl 

"London,  9th  June,  1731. 

4c  ^  %  %  ^  4:  4« 

*  *  *  "The  Academy  received  your  letter  with 
great  pleasure  :  most  of  them,  from  that  excellent  rule 
of  Signor  Legrenzi,  but  all  convicted  by  so  many  and 
so  considerable  testimonies  as  you  bring,  unanimously 
agreed  that  the  madrigal  is  yours.  I  also  (which  we 
thought  just)  wrote  a  letter  to  Signor  Buononcini,  which 
was  delivered  into  his  own  hands,  in  which  I  sent  him 
copies  of  both  your  letters,  and  told  him  I  would  wait  a 
week  before  I  wrote  to  you  again,  that  he  might,  if  he 
should  think  proper,  have  an  opportunity  of  replying. 
But  I  waited  a  fortnight  to  no  purpose.  I  then  sent  a 
second  letter  by  the  keeper  of  our  library  ;  and  Signor 
Buononcini  not  being  at  home,  two  or  three  times,  I  or- 
dered it  to  be  left  with  his  servant.  But  this  also,  which 
I  am  surprised  at,  was  denied ;  for  the  servant  said  he 
had  orders  to  receive  no  letters  but  what  came  by  the 
post.  Thus  stands  the  affair  with  Signor  Buononcini. 
Yet,  notwithstanding  this,  some  persons  who  pretend  to 
be  his  friends,  and  who  have  separated  from  the  Acad- 
emy on  this  very  account,  as  it  appears,  since  no  other  is 
pretended,  obstinately  assert  the  madrigal  to  be  his,  still 
appeal  to  the  archives  of  the  emperor,  and  accuse  you  of 
theft,  and  the  Academy  of  slander,  through  the  whole 
town.  No  answer  from  M.  Fuchs  has  yet  come  to  my 
hands ;  from  what  cause  or  accident,  if  he  be  still  alive, 
I  can't  so  much  as  guess.  The  Academy,  after  hearing 
your  letter,  were  willing  to  have  prosecuted  this  affair  no 
further ;  but  they  think  it  is  your  interest  as  well  as 
theirs  that  these  calumnies  should  be  answered. 

"  They  entreat,  therefore,  sir,  that  entirely  to  refute 
these  ill-minded  persons,  you  would  be  pleased  to  send 


LOTTI'S    MADRIGAL.  175 

US  some  certificates  of  tlio  Count  del  Par,  Abbot  Pariati, 
or  some  others  who  saw  the  madrigal  at  Venice  before  it 
was  published.     But  of  this  enough. 

u  *  *  ^t  ^s  it  is  your  design  to  search  for  what 
is  beautiful  in  the  works  of  the  ancients,  and  to  seek  out 
those  things  that  have  been  either  neglected  or  forgot, 
we  doubt  not  but  we  shall  find  you  worthy  to  be  placed 
in  the  list  of  those  few  who  cultivate  the  true  study  of 
musick,  which  you  justly  complain  is  at  present  too  much 
neglected.  *  *  *  I  hope,  sir,  that  for  the  future  we 
shall  correspond  not  about  these  trilling  squabbles,  but 
about  things  relating  to  the  advancement  of  musick. 

"  H.  Bishop." 

We  see  that  a  hundred  and  twenty-five  years  ago, 
the  English  Academy  complained  that  scientific  musical 
studies  were  neglected ;  and  it  can  not  be  doubted  that 
the  same  thing  was  said  a  hundred  and  twenty-five  years 
before  that.  At  every  epoch,  the  past  is  praised  at  the 
expense  of  the  present. 

Lotti's  reply  was  triumphant : 

(Without  date.) 

"  Venice. 
"  Sir —  *  *  *  J  return  thanks  to  you,  the  whole 
Academy,  and  the  worthy  members  of  it,  for  the  justice 
they  do  me.  *  *  *  I  conceive  that  the  partizans  of 
Signor  Buononcini  are  displeased  with  the  Academy  and 
with  me,  and  I  could  wish  to  be  master  of  the  art  of 
musick  which  is  lost,  that  had  the  power  of  raising  and 
calming  the  passions.  I  think,  however,  that  they  do 
not  much  consult  the  honor  of  their  friend ;  because,  by 
separating  from  the  Academy,  they  show  a  resentment 
which  might  be  just  were  the  dispute  about  an  air  only ; 
but  for  a  madrigal  indeed  it  is  too  much,  since  Signor 
Buononcini  can  make  others  equal  and  much  superior. 
^     *     *     I  submit  to  the  commandment  of  the  Acad- 


176  LIFE    OF    HANDEL. 

emy ;  therefore  I  inclose  some  papers  from  Vienna  and 
from  Venice,  sufficient  even  for  those  who  have  liated 
the  truth.  *  *  *  Among  these  you  will  also  find  a 
madrigal  for  five  voices,  which  I  composed  at  Dresden 
when  I  was  in  the  service  of  that  court ;  and  you  will 
know  it  to  be  grist  from  the  same  mill.  I  know  not 
whether  this  will  have  the  fortune  to  be  attributed  to 
any  other ;  but  should  it  happen  so,  I  shall  equally  com- 
fort myself  with  the  reflection  that  my  parts  are  not 
tliought  mean,  when  people  are  found  who  are  willing  to 
adopt  them  for  their  own." 

"September  9,  1731,  Yenice. 

"  The  under-written  attests  upon  my  oath,  in  relation 
to  the  madrigal  for  five  voices  set  to  musick,  upon  the 
words  'In  una  siepe  ombrosa,'  etc.,  as  it  appears  at 
present  in  the  printed  book  of  Signor  Antonio  Lotti, 
organist  of  the  ducal  chapel  of  St.  Mark,  that  I  saw  the 
said  madrigal  in  the  rough  draft  while  it  was  yet  com- 
posing, with  the  alterations  and  rasures  of  some  notes 
as  the  work  went  on  ;  and  also  that  I  heard  it  practiced 
several  times — sometimes  in  parts,  sometimes  entire,  in 
the  presence  of  several  persons;  and  I  myself  caused  it 
afterward  to  be  printed  with  the  other  duetti  terzetti^ 
etc.,  by  Antonio  Bartoli,  at  the  proper  charge  of  the  said 
printer,  he  giving  29  copies  to  the  author. 

"  I.  Gig.  Fkanc.  Maria  Bettoxi,  attested  as  above." 

Michael  Angelo  Gasparini  declares,  for  his  part,  that 
he  knew  Lotti  in  1686,  with  their  master,  Sig.  Legrenzi, 
and  that  the  madrigal  was  by  him.  Finally,  the  Abbe 
Pietro  Pai-ati,  "  Poet  to  his  Cesarian  and  Catholic  IMa- 
jesty,"  affirms,  from  Vienna,  in  Austria,  the  27th  of 
July,  1731,  that  he  wrote  the  words  "  In  una  siepe,"  for 
Lotti,  and  that  he  gave  them  to  him,  and  that  he  saw 
him  set  them  to  music. 

Whereupon  the  English  Academy  wrote  the  following 
letter  to  Lotti : 


BONONCINI'S  FORGERY  PROVED.      177 

Letter  to  Signor  Lotti  {icndated). 

*  *  *  *  *  *  * 

"The  testimonies,  dear  sir,  you  transmitted  to  us 
have  had  their  due  weiglit  with  us,  and  abundantly  eon- 
iirra  us  in  the  good  opinion  we  had  before  conceived  of 
you.  It  can  be  no  disagreeable  news  to  you  to  hear 
that  we  have  sent  them,  together  with  the  several  letters 
that  have  passed  between  us,  to  be  printed. 

"  By  the  ship  called  the  Huhy^  you  will  receive  from 
us  two  pieces  of  musick,  the  work  of  two  English  mas- 
ters, Thos.  Tallis,  and  William  Bird;  the  latter,  organ- 
ist and  composer  to  Henry  VIII.,  the  former,  master  of 
the  royal  chapel  in  the  reign  of  the  same  king.  When 
you  cast  your  eye  upon  those  pieces,  you  will  clearly 
perceive  that  true  and  solid  musick  is  not  in  its  infancy 
with  us,  and  that,  whatever  some  on  your  side  of  the 
Alps  may  irnagine  to  the  contrary,  the  muses  have  of 
old  time  taken  up  their  abode  in  England^  so  that  to 
our  ancestors,  in  whose  footsteps  we  tread,  it  is  that  we 
are  chiefly  indebted  for  what  we  know  and  practice,  and 
we  dutifully  acknowledge  the  obligation. 

"  We  have  great  things  in  design  for  the  further  ad- 
vancement of  the  harmonic  science,  which  shall  be  made 
known  to  you  at  proper  opportunities. 

*  *  *  *  ¥r  *  * 

"  Adieu,  most  worthy  brother  Academician." 

T\\Q  protege  of  Marlborough,  in  shutting  his  door  to 
Lotti's  first  answer,  left  no  doubt  in  any  reasonable  mind 
of  the  reality  of  the  forgery.  People  were  the  more 
astonished,  because  he  was  capable  of  composing  a  much 
better  madrigal  than  the  Venetian.  But  the  theft  was 
proved,  and  the  Handelists  did  not  fail  to  make  as  much 
of  it  as  possible.  Bononcini  had  at  first  thought  he 
w^ould  extricate  himself  by  audacity,  but  when  once  the 
affair  was  taken  up,  he  left  England  immediately,  doubt- 
less hoping  to  divert  attention  by  making  people  believe 

8* 


178  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

that  he  did  not  interest  himself  about  the  question.  It 
was  at  the  end  of  May,  1731,  that  he  refused  to  receive 
the  Academy's  letter,  and  the  Daily  Courant  of  the 
30th  of  the  following  June,  announces  his  departure  for 
France.  He  returned  in  1732  ;  for,  on  the  14th  of  June 
in  that  year,  we  have  seen  above  that  he  produced  a 
pastoral  at  Covent  Garden.  Perhaps  he  thought  that 
his  absence  had  silenced  discussion  ;  but  the  Academy, 
on  the  contrary,  hastened  to  publish  the  pamphlet  which 
destroyed  him,  and  he  left  England  forever,  in  1733, 
after  having  preserved,  throughout  the  whole  of  the  dis- 
cussion, a  silence  which  was  conformable  with  the  arro- 
gance of  his  character.  When  his  fall  was  certain,  he 
did  not  abase  himself  any  further  by  attempting  a  de- 
fense ;  but  quitted  the  country.  Silence  is  the  only 
shadow  beneath  which  culpability  can  retire  with  dig- 
nity. We  find  him  afterward  carrying  across  Europe 
his  astonishing  facility  of  composition,  and  associating 
himself,  in  spite  of  his  morose  disposition,  with  a  schemer 
who  pretended  that  he  had  discovered  the  philosopher's 
stone  ;  until  he  died,  almost  a  centenarian,  in  solitude 
and  obscurity — the  merited  punishment  of  an  ill-spent 
life.  " 


CHAPTER    Yl. 

1733— 1737. 

"Atiialia"— TuE  TWO  Rival  Thkateks—"  Ariadne" — "Parnasso  in  Festa" 
— ""Werding  Anthem" — Indomitable  Energy  of  Handel — "Hautbois 
Concertos" — "Fugues  for  the  Organ" — Handel  becomes  an  Imi'ressaeio 
— Arbutiinot's  Satire  in  his  Favor — "  Terpsichore" — Masques — "Alcina." 
—•'Alexander's  Feast"— Indifference  of  the  Composers  of  the  Eight- 
eenth Century  -with  regard  to  the  Publication  of  their  Works—"  Ata- 
lanta"—"Arminius"—"  Justin" — "  Berenice"- Euin  of  the  Two  Theaters 
— Failure  of  Handel— Artistic  Ignorance  of  the  Public  of  that  Epoch. 

In  spite  of  Bononeini's  fall,  his  faction  did  not  tlie  less 
continue  the  war  against  Handel.  On  the  13th  of  June, 
1733,  as  we  have  seen,  they  held  a  sort  of  coalition  con- 
ference with  Senesino.  Their  great  adversary  seems  to 
have  regarded  the  storm  which  was  brewing  around  him 
with  a  calm,  untroubled  eye  ;  for,  having  finished  Atha- 
lia  on  the  7th  of  June,  he  went  tranquilly  to  inti-oduce 
it  at  a  Public  Act  of  the  University  of  Oxford. 

What  is  called  a  Public  Act  is  the  ceremony  which 
takes  place  every  year,  for  conferring  the  degrees  of  the 
University  after  an  examination.  This  lasts  three  or 
four  days  ;  the  mornings  of  which  are  devoted  to  science, 
and  the  evenings  to  pleasur(\  The  Memoirs  of  Thomas 
Hearne  (a  Master  of  Arts  belonging  to  St.  Edmund's 
Hall,*  one  of  the  Colleges  of  the  University  of  Oxford), 
published  very  recently,  declare  that  Handel  was  directly 
invited  by  the  Yice-Chancellor  of  this  University : 

"1733,  July  5.— One  Handell,  a  foreigner  (who  they 
say  was  born  at  Hanover),  being  desired  to  come  to  Ox- 
ford, to  perform  in  musick  at  this  Act,  in  which  he  hath 
great   skill,   is   come    down,   the   Vice-Chancellor    (Dr. 

*  Rellquici  Ilearnianx:  The  Eemains  of  T.  Hearne,  M.A.,  of  St.  Ed- 
mund's Hall ;  being  Extracts  from  his  MS.  Diaries.  Collected  by  P. 
Bliss.    Oxford,  1856. 


180  LI  F  K    OV     ir  A  N  I)  F  L  . 

Holmes)  liaving  requested  him  so  to  do,  and,  as  an  en- 
couragement, to  allow  liim  the  benefit  of  tlie  Theater  both 
before  the  Act  begins  and  after  it.  Accordingly  he  hath 
published  papers  for  a  performance  to-day,  at  5s.  a  ticket. 
This  performance  began  a  little  after  five  o'clock  in  the 
evening.  This  is  an  innovation.  The  players  might  be 
as  well  permitted  to  come  and  act." 

"  July  6. — The  players  being  denied  coming  to  Oxford 
by  the  Yice-Chancellor,  and  that  very  rightly,  though 
they  might  as  well  have  been  there  as  Handell  and  (his 
loAvsy  crew)  a  great  number  of  forreign  fiddlers,  they 
went  to  Abbington,  and  yesterday  began  to  act  there ; 
at  which  were  present  many  gownsmen  from  Oxford." 

"  July  8. — Half  an  hour  after  five  o'clock,  yesterday 
in  the  afternoon,  was  another  performance  at  5s.  a  ticket, 
in  the  Theater  by  Mr.  Handell  for  his  own  benefit,  con- 
tinuing till  about  eiglit  o'clock. — N.B.  His  book  (not 
worth  Id.)  he  sells  for  Is." 

"  Cet  liomrae  assurement  n'aime  pas  la  musique." — Amphytnon. 

I  have  also  met  with  two  old  pamphlets,  in  which  are 
to  be  found  new  and  more  conclusive  evidence  of  what 
the  composer  did  at  Oxford  :  The  Oxford  Act^  a.d.  1733, 
"  Thursday,  tr  e  5th  of  July.  About  five  o'clock  the 
great  Mr.  Handel  shew'd  away  with  his  Esther^  an  ora- 
torio, or  sacred  drama,  to  a  very  numerous  audience,  at 
five  shillings  a  ticket." 

On  the  6th  no  music.  On  Saturday,  the  Yth  : — "  The 
Chevalier  Handel  very  judiciously,  forsooih,  ordered  out 
tickets  for  his  Esther  this  evening  again. 

"  Some  of  the  company  that  had  fomid  themselves  but 
very  scramblingly  entertained  at  our  dry  disputations, 
took  it  into  their  heads  to  try  how  a  little  fiddling  would 
sit  upon  them. 

"  Such  as  cou'dn't  attend  before,  squeezed  in  v/ith  as 
much  alacrity  as  others  strove  to  get  out,  so  that  e're 
his  myrmidons  cou'd  gain  their  posts,  he  found  that  he 


PUKLTC     ACT     AT     OXFORD.  181 

liad  little  likelihood  to  be  at  such  a  loss  for  a  house  as, 
once  upon  a  time,  folks  say  he  was. 

'*  So  that  notwithstanding  the  barbarous  and  inhuman 
combination  of  such  a  parcel  of  unconscionable  chaps, 
he  disposed,  it  seems,  of  most  of  his  tickets,  and  had,  as 
you  may  guess,  a  pi-etty  mottley  appearance  into  the 
bargain." 

On  Sunday,  the  8th  of  July,  "  at  the  church  in  the 
morning.  Mi-.  Handel's  Te  Deinn  was  performed ;  and 
in  the  evening,  the  '  Jubilate'  to  the  Te  Deum:'>  There- 
fore it  was  the  Utrecht  Te  Deuni  which  Avas  played.  On 
Monday  no  music.  On  Tuesday: — "The  company  in 
the  evening  weie  entertained  wdth  a  spick  and  span  new 
oratorio,  called  Athalla.  One  of  the  royal  and  ample 
had  been  saying,  that  truly  it  was  his  opinion  that  the 
theater  was  erected  for  other  guise  purposes,  than  to  be 
prostituted  to  a  company  of  squeeking,  bawling,  outland- 
ish singsters,  let  the  agreement  be  w^hat  it  wou'd  This 
morning,  Wednesday,  July  the  11th,  there  was,  luckily 
enough,  for  the  benefit  of  some  of  Handel's  people,  a 
serenata  in  their  grand  hall.  In  the  evening,  Athalia 
WMS  served  up  again  ;  but  the  next  night  he  concluded 
with  liis  oratorio  q{  Deborah?'' 

It  is  not  easy  to  determine  whether  the  writer  was  a 
fiiend  or  an  enemy  of  "  the  Chevalier  Handel ;"  but  the 
"  barbarous  and  inhuman  combination  of  such  a  parcel 
of  unconscionable  chaps,"  leads  to  the  inference  that 
some  enemies  had  followed  him  to  Oxford. 

The  second  pamjihlet  is  a  piece  of  buffoonery,  in  the 
form  of  a  ballad-opera,  in  which  the  Oxford  under-grad- 
uates,  accompanied  by  young  ladies,  comi^lain  that  these 
solemnities  bring  them  into  ruinous  expenses  : 

"  ThougJiileft-s. — In  the  next  place,  tliere's  the  fuvnitnre  of  my  room 
procur'd  me  some  tickets  to  hear  that  bewitching  music,  that  cursed 
Handel,  with  his  confounded  oratorios ;  I  wish  him  and  his  company 
Lad  been  yeili;ig  in  the  infernal  shades  below. 

"  Haagldy. — Our  cases  run  in  a  parallel ;  nay,  'tis  worse  with  mo,  for 


182  LIFE     OP     HANDEL. 

I  question  whether  my  gaping  herd  of  creditors  won't  be  for  sequester- 
ing my  fellowship  or  not.  I  don't  see  what  occasion  we  had  for  this  Act, 
unless  it  was  to  ruin  us  all.  It  would  have  been  much  more  prudent,  I 
think,  had  it  pass'd  in  the  negative ;  for  I  am  sure  it  has  done  more  harm 
than  good  amongst  us  ;  no  one  has  gaiu'd  anything  by  it  but  Mr.  Handel 
and  his  crew." 

As  the  tickets  were  sold  for  five  shillings  each,  these 
gentlemen,  to  be  ruined,  must  have  been  accompanied 
by  a  great  many  young  ladies.  Nevertheless,  the  attend- 
ance was  certainly  very  great,  and  the  composer  must 
have  gained  a  great  deal  of  money.  The  Gentleman'' s 
Magazine  for  July,  in  the  same  year,  reports  that  Atha- 
lia  was  received  at  Oxford  "  with  vast  applause,  before 
an  audience  of  3700  persons." 

Tins  oratorio,  which  the  author  afterward  produced 
frequently  in  London,  was  the  cause  of  the  diploma  of  a 
doctor  of  music  being  offered  to  Handel  ;*  but  he  refused 
it.  Of  what  service  could  such  a  degree  be  to  him  ? 
On  being  asked  one  day  why  he  did  not  take  his  degree, 
he  replied,  "  Vat  de  dyfil  I  trow  my  money  away  for 
dat  wich  de  blockhead  wish  ?     I  no  want." 

The  name  of  Montagnana  is  to  be  found  upon  the 
MS.  of  Athalia^  and  he  therefore  at  that  time  still  re- 
mained with  Handel ;  but  a  very  short  time  afterward 
he  joined  Senesino.  Signora  Bertolli  and  Celeste  Gis- 
mondi,  two  of  the  principal  songstresses  of  the  company, 
had  deserted  from  the  beginning,  "  to  enlist  under  the 
banner  of  the  barons."  Signora  Strada  alone  remained 
faithful  to  the  great  man,  who  continued  to  present  a 
determined  front,  and  seemed  to  defy  the  tempest ;  for 
he  was  of  the  family  of  oaks,  which  will  break  rather 
than  bend. 

*  The  doctorship  of  music,  which  was  established  in  England  beyond 
1450,  is  a  degree  conferred  by  the  Universities  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge, 
•where  there  are  composition  classes.  To  obtain  a  diploma,  it  is  only  nec- 
essary to  write,  in  a  passable  manner,  a  cantata  for  eight  voices,  provided 
always  that  you  can  add  to  the  cantata  a  sum  of  one  hundred  guineas. 
This  degree  is  not  much  sought  after  now-a-days. 


IMPEESSARIO     ON    HIS     OWN    ACCOUNT.        183 

It  appears  that,  with  his  usual  resolution  and  activity, 
he  went  to  the  Continent  to  engage  a  new  compan}*. 
Hawkins  says  that,  "  at  the  end  of  his  engagement  with 
Heidegger,  Handel,  together  with  old  Mr.  Smith,  w^ent 
abroad  in  quest  of  singers.  In  Italy,  he  heard  Farinelli, 
and  also  Carestini ;  and,  which  is  very  strange,  preferring 
the  latter,  he  engaged  with  him,  and  returned  to  En- 
gland. With  this  assistance  he  ventured  to  undertake 
an  opera  in  the  Haymarket  on  his  own  bottom."*  The 
partnership  with  Heidegger,  it  is  ceitain,  dfd  not  termi- 
nate before  the  month  of  June,  1734  ;  and  it  is  not  less 
certain,  as  will  presently  be  seen,  that  it  was  at  Lincoln's 
Inn  Fields,  and  not  at  the  Haymarket,  that  Handel  com- 
menced the  career  of  wipressario  ;  finally,  his  company 
of  1734  did  not  contain  any  new  artist.  But  Hawkins 
frequently  confounds  both  times  and  facts  ;  and  it  is 
more  than  probable  that  Handel  made  this  journey 
while  he  was  still  in  partnership  with  Heidegger,  when 
he  returned  from  Oxford,  from  July  to  the  end  of  Sep- 
tember, 1733.  His  Ariadne  is  signed  on  the  5th  of  Oc- 
tober. He  reopened  the  season  at  the  Haymarket  on  the 
30th  of  October,  Avith  an  entirely  new  Italian  company: 
— Scalzi,  the  two  sisters  Negri,  Sg".  Durastanti  (who  re- 
appeared after  ten  years'  absence),  and  Carestini,t  who 
made  his  debut  on  the  4th  of  December,  1733,  in  Cajvs 
Fabricius^  a  pasticcio  oi)era. 

But,  in  the  mean  time,  his  enemies  were  not  inactive  ; 
they  had  engaged  Farinelli,  the  prodigy  of  singers,  and 
Signora  Cuzzoni  returned.  Porpora  and  Arrigoni  were 
engaged   as   composers,];  under   tne  direction  of  Lord 

*  Hawkins,  p.  876. 

t  Carestini,  a  man  of  distinguished  character,  was  a  male  soprano,  a 
good  musician,  and  gifted  with  a  magnificent  voice.  Colman  and  tlie 
book  of  Parnasso  in  Festa  spell  his  name  Carestino.  He  is  sometimes 
surnamed  Cusanino,  because  the  Casani  family  in  Milan  had  taken  liim 
under  their  protection  from  the  age  of  twelve  years. 

X  See  Fetis  and  Choron.  Arrigoni  produced  at  London,  in  1734,  tin 
opera  called  Fernando.    (F^tis.) 


184  LIFEOF     HANDEL. 

Cooper.  Such  was  the  coalition  wliich  commenced  oper- 
ations at  Lincoln's  Inn  Theater,  on  the  29th  of  December, 
1733,*  with  the  Ariadne  of  Porpora,  written  (says  the 
libretto  of  Paolo  Rolli)  "  per  la  nobilita  Britannica." 
The  general  rehearsal  took  place  four  clays  before  the 
opening,  at  the  house  of  the  Prince  of  Wales.  The 
Daily  Post^  Tuesday,  December  25th,  1733,  says: — 
"  Last  niglit  there  was  a  rehearsal  of  a  new  opera  at  the 
Prince  of  Wales's  house  in  the  royal  gardens  in  Pall 
Mall,  where  vv^as  present  a  great  concourse  of  the  nobil- 
ity and  quality  of  both  sexes."  Frederic,  Prince  of 
Wales,  joined  for  some  time  the  opposition  agahist  Han- 
del ;  but  he  very  soon  recovered  from  that  folly,  to  which 
he  doubtless  only  yielded  for  the  purpose  of  vexing  his 
father.  So  fond  was  he  of  this,  that  it  would  not  be 
astonishing  to  find  in  some  memoir  that  he  tried  to  walk 
upon  his  head  for  the  purpose  of  acting  in  a  contrary 
manner  to  his  father.f 

Handel  gave,  successively,  Semirainis  on  the  30th  of 
October,  Cajus  FahriciusX  on  iha  4th  of  December,  and 
Arbaces  on  the  5th  of  January,  1734.  Burney,  in  fur- 
nishing these  dates,  says  that  the  names  of  the  composers 
of  these  works  are  unknown,  but  that  "in  all  probability 
they  were  old  dramas  adjusted  to  airs  selected  from  the 
works  of  different  masters  ;"  and  the  acute  doctor  was 
not  deceived.     The  three  scores  are  to  be  found  in  a 

*  Daily  Journal. 

+  The  royal  family  of  England  at  that  time  offered  a  revolting  specta- 
cle. King  George  the  Second,  like  Louis  the  Fourteenth,  exposed  to  the 
whole  world  the  indecencies  of  his  amours.  Both,  he  and  his  wife  had 
conceived  against  their  son  Frederic  a  violent  and  implacable  antipathy, 
and  they,  who  owed  at  least  to  their  subjects  an  example  of  good  man- 
ners, did  not  hesitate  to  make  them  witnesses  of  the  scandal  of  their 
family  quarrels.  The  London  Daily  Post  extracts  the  following  announce- 
ment from  the  London  Gazette  of  the  27tli  of  February,  1728  :— "  His 
majesty,  having  been  informed  that  due  regard  has  not  been  paid  to  his 
order  of  the  11th  of  September,  1737,  has  thought  fit  to  declare,  that  no 
person  whatever,  who  shall  go  to  pay  their  court  to  their  royal  highnesses 
the  Prince  or  Princess  of  Wales,  shall  be  admitted  into  his  majesty's 
presence  at  any  of  his  royal  palaces. — Grafton." 
X  See  Appendix  K. 


PASTICCIO     OPERAS.  185 

complete  state  in  Smith's  collection.  Arhaces  is  nothing 
but  the  Artaxerxes  of  Metastasio,  under  the  name  of  one 
of  the  principal  personages  in  that  poem.  These  three 
MSS.  are  indeed  very  curious,  and  cast  a  new  light  on 
the  proceedings  of  the  master.  All  the  airs,  which  are 
by  authors  whose  names  are  not  known,  are  in  Smith's 
handwriting,  and  all  the  recitatives  are  in  that  of  Han- 
del. This  appears  to  be  clearly  exi3licable  in  the  follow- 
ing manner:  In  spite  of  his  prodigious  fecundity,  Handel 
could  not  satisfy  the  desire  for  novelty  wliich  was  prev- 
alent in  his  time  ;  and  not  having,  and  perhaps  not  wish- 
ing for,  a  composer  who  could  assist  liim,  he  selected 
some  old  poem,  and  employed  Smith  to  arrange  the  airs 
with  music  of  which  the  origin  is  no  longer  discoverable ; 
and,  for  his  part,  he  took  the  trouble  to  unite  the  whole 
with  recitatives,  which  he  could  write  very  rapidly.  If 
I  am  not  mistaken,  these  pasticcios,  which  count  for 
nothing  in  his  works,  should  certainly  add  to  the  admir- 
ation which  he  inspires,  for  they  increase  the  sum  of 
work  of  all  kinds  which  was  accomplished  by  his  indefa- 
tigable jDOwers.  The  three  operas  in  question  were  given 
for  the  debut  of  an  entirely  new  company,  and  it  is  prob- 
able that  they  included  many  airs  wiiich  the  artists  had 
brought  with  them  from  Italy,  as  being  more  particularly 
favorable  to  the  exhibition  of  their  talents.  Every  singer 
has  his  favorite  airs.  Ai^haces  contains,  perhaps,  a  great 
deal  of  the  principal  part  of  the  Artaserse  of  Yinci, 
which  Carestini  had  sung  at  Venice  in  1730. 

On  the  26th  of  January,  1734,  he  more  directly  ac- 
cepted the  challenge  of  the  nobles  with  another  Ariadne^ 
of  his  own  composition.  This  siniilai-ity  of  name  appears 
to  have  been  fortuitous.  Handel's  MS.  is  dated  on  the 
5th  of  October,  two  months  and  a  half  before  the  repre- 
sentation of  Poi-pora's  Ariadne.  At  that  time,  people 
did  not  hesitate  to  make  use  of  subjects,  and  also  even 
of  poems,  which  had  been  treated  by  others.  Many  of 
the  lyric:il  dramas  of  Metastasio  (notably  Gyrus)  have 


186  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

been  set  to  music  by  five  or  six  composers,  all  cotempo* 
raries  of  each  other.* 

By  a  very  singular  coincidence,  the  two  Ariadnes  had 
nineteen  representations  apiece.  That  by  Handel  was 
printed  in  its  entirety,  but  only  the  "  fevorite  songs"  of 
Porpora's  opera  have  been  engraved. f 

*  According  to  Hawkins,  Ariadne  "is  of  a  not  very  elevated  style, 
and  is  calculated  to  please  the  vulgar.  Handel  said  that  he  wrote  it  in 
order  to  recover  the  favor  of  the  nobility,  whom  he  was  sensible  he  had 
displeased  in  some  of  his  most  elaborate  compositions."  The  stroke  is 
cruel,  bat  Barney  does  not  admit  that  the  composer  succeeded  in  what 
he  aimed  at ;  he  declares,  on  the  contraiy,  that,  in  the  midst  of  a  similar 
crisis,  Handel  seems  to  have  developed  all  liis  faculties  in  the  new  opera 
with  greater  vigor  than  ever. 

The  minuet  in  Ariadne  became  very  popular.  Burney  says : — "  It  must 
have  had  a  very  striking  effect  in  the  theater,  as  it  was  not  played  as  a 
part  of  the  overture,  but,  after  the  curtain  was  drawn  up,  as  a  symphony 
to  the  first  scene,  where  Minos  receives  the  tribute  of  Athenian  youths 
and  virgins.  It  being  first  played  jOirt«o,  without  wind  instruments,  and 
afterward /o?'/^,  with  French-horns  and  hautboys,  surprised  and  pleased 
the  audience  in  an  uncommon  manner  at  that  time." 

In  '^lokiw^n'^ Musical  Entertainer  vio.  find  "The  Submissive  Admirer — 
'  How  is  it  possible  V  Set  by  Mr.  Hjndel."  This  is  merely  a  song  set  to 
the  minuet.  We  find  again,  "  How  is  it  possible?  set  by  Mr.  Handel," 
in  Universal  Harmony^  1745. 

t  While  the  rivals  were  engaged  in  the  struggle,  jokers  turned  it  into 
ridicule.  Among  the  book  advertisements  of  the  Gentleman'' s  Magazine 
for  November,  1733,  tlxe  following  may  be  found  : — "  Do  you  know  what 
you  are  ahout  ?  or,  a  Protestant  Alarm  to  Great  Britain,  proving  our  late 
theatric  squabble  to  be  a  type  of  the  present  contest  for  the  Crown,  and 
that  the  division  between  Handel  and  Senesino  has  more  in  it  than  we 
imagine.  Also,  that  the  latter  is  no  Eunuch,  but  a  Jesuit  in  disguise. 
Price  6d." 

Jests  were  very  abundant.  The  London  Magazine  for  January,  1734, 
publishes  "  A  treaty  of  Peace,"  which  is  more  lengthy  than  amusing,  the 
thirteenth  chiuse  of  which  is  as  follows  : — "Article  13.  The  most  high 
and  puissant  John  Frederic  Handel,  Prince  Palatine  of  the  Haymarket; 
the  most  sublime  John  James  Heidegger,  Count  of  the  most  sacred  and 
holy  Roman  Empire ;  and  the  most  noble  and  illustrious  Signer  Sene- 
sino, little  Duke  of  Tuscany,  do  engage  for  themselves,  their  heirs,  and 
successors,  to  become  guarantees  for  the  due  performance  and  execution 
of  all,  every  and  singular,  the  articles  of  this  present  treaty.  Done  in  the 
camp  in  New  Palace  Yard,  before  Westminster  Hall,  this  2Sth  day  of 
November,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1733."  Such  pieces  of  witticism 
were  much  admired,  but  it  is  obvious  that  they  were  not  always  very 
good.    Those  which  have  a  refined  wit,  and  whose  style  is  suflaciently 


"PARNASSO    IN    FESTA."  187 

After  Ariadne^  he  produced  the  serenata  of  Parnasso 
in  JFhsta,  an  allegorical  piece,  brought  out  for  the  cele- 
bration of  the  marriage  of  the  Princess  Anne  of  England 
to  the  deformed  Prince  of  Orange.  The  Daily  Journal 
of  Monday,  the  11th  of  March,  1734,  announces :  "On 
"Wednesday,  13th  instant,  will  be  performed  Parnasso 
in  Festa^  or  Apollo  and  the  Muses  celebrating  the  Mar- 
riage of  Thetis  and  Peleus;  a  serenata.  Being  an  essay 
of  several  different  sorts  of  harmony.  To  begin  at  six 
o'clock." 

Besides  tliis  advertisement,  the  same  number  of  the 
Daily  Journal  contains  the  following  paragraph  : 

"  We  hear,  among  other  publick  diversions  that  are 
prepared  for  the  solemnity  of  the  approaching  nuptials, 
there  is  to  be  performed  at  the  Opera  House  in  the  Hay- 
market,  on  Wednesday  next,  a  serenata  called  Parnasso 
in  Festa.  The  fable  is  Apollo  and  the  Muses  celebrating 
the  Marriage  of  Thetis  and  Peleus.  There  is  one  stand- 
ing scene,  which  is  Mount  Parnassus,  on  which  sit  Apollo 
and  the  Muses,  assisted  with  other  proper  [meaning  ap- 
propriate] characters  emblematically  dressed,  the  whole 
appearance  being  extremely  magnificent.  The  musick  is 
no  less  entertaining,  being  contrived  with  so  great  a 
variety,  that  all  sorts  of  musick  are  properly  introduced 
in  single  songs,  duettos,  etc.,  intermixed  with  choruses, 
somewhat  in  the  style  of  oratorios.  People  have  been 
Avaiting  with  impatience  for  this  piece,  the  celebrated 
Mr.  Handel  having  exerted  his  utmost  skill  in  it." 

This  has  all  the  peculiar  symptoms  ai '''' the  puff  p''  and 
to  have  reduced  Handel  to  that  is  an  additional  reproach 
against  the  enemies  who  were  leagued  against  him.  On 
the  following  day,  the  14th  of  JVIarch,  the  Daily  Courant 
inform  us  that — "Yesterday  evening,  their  majesties,  his 

elegant  to  render  them  tolerable,  are  rare.  The  Addisons,  the  Arbuth- 
nots,  the  Voltaires,  and  the  Montesquieus  do  not  abound.  After  all, 
Handel  could  not  have  been  very  much  annoyed  at  these  blunted  pin- 
pricks ;  and  he  had,  besides,  the  conscience  of  having  right  on  his  side. 


188  LIFE    OF    HANDEL. 

Royal  Highness  the  Prmce  of  Wales,  with  the  rest  of  the 
royal  family,  and  his  Serene  Highness  the  Prince  of 
Orange,  went  to  the  theater  in  the  Haymarket,  and  saw 
a  serenata  called  Parnasso  in  Festa,  or  Apollo  and  the 
Muses  celebratinoj  the  Marriasje  of  Thetis  and  Peleus." 
But  we  do  not  find  a  single  word  to  inform  us  of  what 
his  imperisliable  majesty  the  public  thought  of  this 
"  essay  of  several  different  sorts  of  harmony." 

In  point  of  fact,  the  serenata  de  circonstance  was  com- 
posed like  all  pieces  de  circonstance.  Thirteen  of  the 
airs  and  songs  only  are  new  :^  the  rest  are  borrowed 
from  Athalia.,  which  had  only  then  been  performed 
twice  at  Oxford.  Burney,  who  made  a  comparative 
analysis  of  the  two  works,  says:  "The  Italian  words  are 
adjusted  to  the  music  with  such  intelligence  and  atten- 
tion to  the  accent  and  expression  that  if  we  were  not  ac- 
quainted with  the  new  and  particular  occasion  on  v/hich 
Parnasso  was  prepared,  it  would  be  difficult  to  discover 
whether  the  music  was  originally  composed  for  that  sere- 
nata or  for  Athalia.'''' 

The  author  afterward  hitroduced  into  Athalia  many 
of  the  novelties  belonging  to  this  semi-pasticcio  serenata. 

Only  one  Wedding  Anthem  by  Handel  is  known,  that 
which  was  composed  in  1736  for  the  marriage  of  the 
Prince  of  Wales ;  but  he  arranged  another,  which  has 
never  been  mentioned,  for  tlie  marriage  of  the  Princess 
Anne.  I  have  the  MS.  of  this  in  the  collection  which  be- 
longed to  Smith,  and  I  subjoin  the  analysis,  for  which  I 
am  indebted  to  Mr.  Rophino  Lacy : 

Chorus  :  "  This  is  the  day  ;"  made  out  of  "  The  mighty 
power,"  in  Athalia. 

Air  (bass) :  "  Blessed  is  the  man  that  hath  a  virtuous 
wife  ;"  made  out  of  "  Gentle  airs,"  in  ditto. 

Air  (sop.)  :  "  A  good  wife  is  a  good  portion ;"  made 
out  of  "  Thro'  the  land,"  in  ditto. 

*  See  "  Catalogue,"  1734. 


'  WEDDING    ANTHEMS.  189 

Air  (ten.):  "Strength  and  lionor  fire  her  clolhhig  ;" 
made  out  of  "  Circonda  in  lor  vite,"  in  Pamasso. 

Recitative  (bass) :"  As  the  sun,"  (  f'-o™    "^i^'    Canst 

A  •      /I         \     \<^  Tx  ^  •^  1  '  i    ^^^^^  prove   me,"  in 

Air  (bass) :  "Her  chudren  arise  up,"  (  Atimiia. 

Chorus :  "  We  shall  remember  thy  (  ^^om  the  last  movement 

.„-.,.  *^   i  of  the  Tth  Chandos  An- 

iianie.     Allelujah,  Amen."  (  them. 

,  This  is  truly  an  anthem  for  a  wedding,  where  every 
thing  tends  to  the  honor  of  the  bride.  The  words  of  the 
Weddmff  Anthem  of  I'ZSG,  on  the  contrary,  are  chosen 
more  in  honor  of  the  husband :  "  Thy  wife  shall  be ;" 
"  Lo,  thus  shall  the  man  be  blessed  ;"  etc. 

It  can  be  satisfactorily  proved  that  this  pasticcio 
anthem  was  really  sung  at  the  marriage  for  which 
Handel-  wrote  Pamasso  in  Festa.  The  Daily  Post 
of  the  19th  of  October,  1733,  announces:  "We  hear 
a  fine  anthem,  composed  by  Dr.  Greene  for  the  nup- 
tials of  Frederic,  Prince  of  Orange,  and  Anne,  princess 
royal,  is  to  be  performed  by  Mr.  Gates,  Mr.  Hughes, 
and  Mr.  Rowe,  and  the  children  of  the  chapel  royal  at 
St.  James." 

The  Prince  of  Orange  arrived  in  England  on  the  6th 
of  November,  1733  ;  but,  becoming  seriously  ill,  his 
marriage,  which  had  been  fixed  for  the  12th  of  Novem- 
ber, was  put  off  until  the  month  of  March,  1734. 

It  may  be  that  the  princess,  who  always  showed  a 
great  partiality  for  Handel,  preferred  to  have  any  thing 
by  him  rather  than  the  work  of  Greene,  the  ofiicial  com- 
poser to  the  chapel  royal.  But  whether  this  was  so  or 
not,  the  following  paragraph  in  the  London  Magazien 
for  March,  1734,  proves  that  it  was  her  favorite's  music 
that  was  sung  at  her  marriage  :  "  After  the  organ  had 
played  some  time,  his  highness  the  Prince  of  Orange  led 
the  princess  royal  to  the  rails  of  the  altar  and  kneeled 
down,  and  then  the  Lord  Bishop  of  London  performed 
the  service;  after  which  tlie  bride  and  bridegroom  arose 
and  retired  to  their  places,  while  a  fine  anthem,  com- 


190  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

posed  by  INIr.  Handel,  was  performed  by  a  great  number 
of  voices  and  instruments."* 

In  the  midst  of  tlie  painful  circumstances  which  sur- 
rounded him,  Handel  displayed  indomitable  energy  and 
activity.  Even  from  among  the  dry  bones  of  the  adver- 
tising columns  we  may  pick  up  living  proofs  of  his  efforts. 
After  Ariadne^  on  the  26th  of  January,  1734,  and  Par- 
nasso  in  Festa^  on  the  13th  of  March,  came  the  revivals 
oi  Deborah^  on  the  2d  and  9th  of  April ;  of  Sosarme^  on 
the  27th  of  April ;  of  Aeis^  on  the  6th  of  May ;  and  on 
the  4th  of  June,  o^  Pastor  Fldo,  completely  re-arranged. 
The  Daily  Journal  of  the  1st  of  June,  1734,  announces: 
"  On  Thursday,  the  4th  of  June,  at  the  King's  Theater, 
in  the  Haymarket,  will  be  performed  an  opera  called 
Pastor  Fido^  composed  by  Mr.  Handel,  intermixed  with 
choruses.  The  scenery  after  a  particular  manner."  The 
scenery  after  a  jyarticular  manner.     Poor  Handel ! 

The  book  of  Pastor  Fido^  as  produced  in  the  Hay- 
market  in  1734,  is  inscribed  "  Second  Edition,  with  large 
Additions."  An  analysis  of  the  rearrangement  will  be 
found  in  the  "  Catalogue."  It  was  repeated  eight  times, 
between  the  4th  and  the  29th  of  June,  which  was  the 
last  performance  of  the  season.  Vide  Daily  Journal  for 
the  29th  of  June  : — ''''Pastor  Fido^  last  time  of  perform- 
ing." 

It  was  in  1734  also  that  he  brought  out  the  celebrated 

*  It  is  impossible  to  doubt  that  this  "  fine  anthem,  composed  by  Mr. 
Handel,"  was  that  of  which  the  MS.  is  in  my  possession.  Unhappily,  as 
has  been  shown,  it  contains  nothing  new ;  every  thing  is  taken  from  the 
two  works  which  were  then  under  his  hand,  Athalia  and  Partiasso.  It 
seems  to  have  been  very  hastily  written.  Ti)e  music  is  in  the  haud- 
writaig  of  Smith,  and  all  the  words  in  that  of  the  master,  who  reserved 
to  hinl^<eIf  the  application  of  them  to  the  morceaux  which  he  had  pointed 
out  to  his  secretary.  Nevertheless,  his  own  notation  may  be  recognized 
in  many  places,  where  the  new  words  required  some  alterat  on.  Tliis 
Anthem  has  no  place  among  the  works  of  the  master,  being  a  mere  pas- 
ticcio ;  but  the  MS.  is  not  without  a  very  great  interest,  not  only  as 
being  a  long  autograph  by  him,  but  as  throwing  a  light  upon  the  article 
in  the  London  Magazine. 


"hautboy   concerto."  191 

Hautbois  Concertos^  Opera  3%  wliich  had  been  previously 
written  at  diflferent  epochs.  Tliese  were  great  composi- 
tions for  two  violins,  two  hautboys,  two  flutes,  two  viols, 
tvv^o  bassoons,  two  violencellos,  and  a  thorough  bass. 
They  might  be  called  symphonies.  A  certain  promi- 
nence which  is  given  to  the  hautboys,  is  the  cause  of  the 
too  modest  title  which  disguises  their  importance.  The 
hautboy  was  one  of  Handel's  favorite  instruments.  Ev- 
ery author  speaks  of  these  compositions  of  instrumental 
music  as  masterpieces.  The  second  and  the  fourth,  which 
are  more  especially  renowned,  were  performed  at  the 
commemoration  of  1784.  The  Society  for  the  Concerts 
of  Ancient  Music  constantly  revived  them.  Burney  says 
that,  on  the  20th  of  June,  1716,  Amadis  was  performed 
*'  for  the  benefit  of  the  Instrumental  Music"  [orchestra], 
and  that  "  it  was  perhaps  on  this  occasion  that  Handel 
composed  his  admirable  Fourth  Hautboy  Concerto^  for  a 
long  time  known  under  the  name  of  the  Orchestra  Con- 
certo.''^ That  the  conjecture  of  the  astute  doctor  is  per- 
fectly just,  there  are  two  proofs;  in  the  first  place,  the 
advertisement  of  the  performance,  which  is  thus  ex- 
pressed— "  to  which  will  be  added  two  new  symphonies  ;" 
and,  in  the  next  place,  in  the  collection  of  "  Overtures 
for  Concerts,"  published  by  Walsh  (in  which  there  are 
two  overtures  to  A^nadlgi).,  the  second  is  a  reproduction 
of  the  Fouith  Hautboy  Concerto.,  which,  on  that  accotmt, 
is  also  called  "  the  Second  Overture  in  Amadigi.'''' 

Let  me  record  it  once  that,  the  following  year  (1735)* 
the  Six  Fugues  or  Voluntaries  for  Organ  or  Harpsi- 
chord appeared.  In  that  kind  of  composition  Handel 
had  no  rival  but  Bach. 

The  partnership  which  he  had  entered  into  with 
Heidegger,  who  was  principal  lessee  of  the  Haymarket 
Theater,  came  to  an  end  with  the  season  of  1734. 
Heidegger  immediately  gave  up  the  theater  to  the  rival 
Italian  company  of  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields.  His  partner 
*  See  "  Catalogue  of  Works." 


192  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

had,  therefore,  a  good  opportimity  of  retreating'  from 
tlie  contest  witliout  the  least  appearance  of  giving  way. 
He  might  have  retired  to  his  tent  to  enjoy  the  £600 
which  he  annually  received  in  the  way  of  pensions,  and 
which  were  always  regularly  paid.  But  he  w^ould  not 
do  so.  To  oppose  himself  to  an  omnipotent  class  of  so- 
ciety, Avhich  had  Farinelli  with  it,  was  bold  ;  but  with 
men  of  Handel's  stamp,  the  stronger  the  enemy  is,  the 
less  they  are  inclined  to  give  way.  He  took  the  deserted 
theater  in  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields,  and  alone,  without  assist- 
ance and  at  his  own  risk,  he  became  an  impressario. 

*    *    *     "  Faites  ouvrir  le  camp 

Je  suis  ce  temeraire  ou  plutot  ce  vaillant." — Le  Cid. 

When  the  nobility  saw  him  assume  this  attitude,  they 
became  still  more  vehemently  irritated  against  him ;  the 
few  friends  who  had  remained  on  his  side  abandoned 
him  ;  the  spirit  of  their  oi'der  became  mixed  up  in  the 
matter,  and  between  that  order  and  him,  therefore,  there 
w^as  open  war.  Whoever  refused  to  renounce  him  had 
no  hope  of  any  favor  from  the  aristocracy,  and  as  it  be- 
came fashionable  to  despise  Mr.  Handel,  every  upstart 
took  care  to  do  so.  Fielding  refers  to  this  foolish  mania 
in  Tom  Jones  : — "  It  was  Mr.  Western's  custom  every 
afternoon,  as  soon  as  he  was  drunk,  to  hear  his  daughter 
play  on  the  harpsichord,  for  he  was  a  great  lover  of 
music,  and  perhaps,  had  he  lived  in  town,  might  have 
passed  for  a  connoisseur,  for  he  always  excepted  against 
the  iinest  compositions  of  Mr.  Handel."*  f 

*  Quoted  by  Mr,  Townsend. 

+  But  at  this  juncture  the  witty  Arbuthnot  fought  vigorously  the  bat- 
tle of  his  friend.  On  the  12th  of  February,  1734,  two  months  after  the 
opening  of  the  theater  patronized  by  the  nobility,  and  without  dreading 
their  displeasure,  he  published  a  satire,  entitled  '■'•  Hartnony  in  an  Up- 
roar; a  letter  to  Frederick  Handel,  Esq.,  Master  of  the  Opera-house  in 
the  Haymarkct,  from  Ilurlothrumbo  Johnson,  Esq.,  Composer  Extraor- 
dinary to  all  the  Theaters  in  Great  Britain,  excepting  that  of  the  Hay- 
market,  in  which  the  rights  and  merits  of  both  O s  [operas]  are 

properly  considered."     [Miscdlaneous  Woi'ha  of  Arbuthnot. '\ 


AliBUTIlNOT^S     SAT  I  UK.  193 

On  the  5tb  of  October,  1734,  lie  opened  the  campaign 
in  Lmcohi's  Inn  Fields  with  revivals  of  Ariadne  and 
Pastor  Fldo  y*  but,  not  finding  the  house  convenient,  he 
gave  his  performances  twice  a  week  at  Covent  Garden 
Theater,  which  had  been  lately  built ;  and  by  the  begin- 
ning of  the  month  of  November,  he  reproduced  Pastor 

The  satirist  declares  to  the  great  composer  :— "  You  must  know  then, 
sir,  that  I  have  been  told,  and  made  to  understand  by  your  letters,  sir, 
that  of  late  you  have  been  ♦  *  *  insolent,  audacious,  impudent,  and 
saucy,  and  a  thousand  things  else,  sir  (that  don't  become  you),  worse 
than  all  that." 

He  then  advises  him: — "Go,  then,  thou  mistaken  mortal,  prostrate 
thyself  before  these  Grand  Signiors ;  yield  to  their  most  unreasonable 
demands ;  let  them  spurn  and  buffet  thee  ;  talk  not  foolishly  of  merit, 
justice,  or  honor,  and  they  may  prove  so  gracious  as  to  let  thee  live 
and  starve." 

He  then  goes  on  to  inform  him  that  he  is  "  called  upon  in  this  solemn 
manner,  before  an  unbiased  judge,  and  the  most  honorable,  impartial, 
numerous  grand  jury  that  ever  appeared  upon  any  trial.  I  hope  you  will 
behave  like  a  gentleman,  own  yourself  guilty  at  once,  and  save  us  a  great 
deal  of  time  and  trouble."  Handel  is  then  summoned  to  appear,  and  is 
j)ut  upon  his  trial : 

"  Cb«»'f.— Frederic  Handel,  hold  up  your  hand.  Know,  you  are 
brought  to  answer  to  the  several  following  high  crimes  and  misdemean- 
ors committed  upon  the  wills  and  understandings,  and  against  the  peace 
of  our  Sovereign  Lord  the  Mobility  of  Great  Britain,  particularly  this 
metropolis.  Imprimis — You  are  charged  with  having  bewitched  us  for 
the  space  of  twenty  years  past.  Secondly — You  have  most  insolently  dared 
to  give  us  good  music  and  harmony,  when  we  wanted  and  desireel  bad. 
TMrdly—  You.  have  most  feloniously  and  an-ogantly  assumed  to  yourself 
tin  uncontrolled  property  of  pleasing  us,  whether  we  would  or  no  ;  and 
have  often  been  so  bold  as  to  charm  us  when  w^e  were  positively  resolved 
to  be  out  of  humor.  How  say  you,  sir,  are  you  guilty  to  the  said  charge 
or  no  ?" 

^'•Frison€7\ — Guilty  of  the  whole  charge. 

'-'•  Cleric  of  the  6b«/-^.— Frederic  Handel,  look  full  at  the  Court  and  make 
three  bows. 

"C<>i«-^.— Sirrah— Demme,  we  say— Sirrah  !  what  has  your  stupidity  to 
offer  in  your  defense,  that  sentence  of  annihilation  should  not  be  imme- 
diately pronounced  against  you  for  daring  to  oppose  our  mighty  wills 
and  pleasures  ? — Well  said  us  1 

"A'i.so/i^?-.— Most  noble  noble,  right  honorable,  and  superlatively  ex- 
cellent— 

•  Bumey. 
9 


194  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

Fido  there,  wliich  was  tliis  time  preceded  by  an  inter- 
lude. In  the  Theatrical  Register  we  find  : — "  Novem- 
ber 9th,  1734.  Theater  Royal,  Covent  Garden.  By  his 
majesty's  command,  on  Saturday  next,  will  be  performed 
Pastor  Fido^  an  opera  with  several  additions,  intermixed 
with  choruses ;  which  will  be  preceded  by  a  new  dramat- 

'■'■  Court. — Go  on,  scoiindrel, 

'■^Prisoner. — I  am  almost  confounded  at  being  thus  arraigned  before  so 
august  an  assembly  of  the  wisest  lieads  of  the  nation  ;  and  to  appear  as 
a  criminal,  where,  though  I  am  guilty  of  the  charge,  I  am  innocent  of 
any  crime,  as  ignorant  of  any  real  accusation.  Wherein  have  I  offended? 

^"^ Court. — Why,  you  saucy  *  *  *  do  you  pretend  to  impeach  the 
honor,  sense,  or  power  of  the  Court?  Wherein  have  you  offended? 
Unparallel'd  audaciousness!  when  we  have  said  you  have  offended. 
Scoundrel !  you're  as  impudent  as  a  red-hot  poker,  which  is  enough  to 
put  any  face  out  of  countenance.  But,  sirrah,  if  you  are  not  guilty  by 
law,  we'll  prove  it  logically.  No  man  is  brought  to  this  bar,  but  who  is 
guilty.  You  are  brought  to  this  bar.  Ergo  :  I>o  you  understand  a  syl- 
logism, rascal?  No  man  at  the  Old  Bailey  ever  had  a  fairer  trial  for  his 
life  ;  away  with  him,  gaoler,  to  the  condemned  hole,  till  the  warrant  is 
signed. 

"  Now,  sir,"  continues  Hurlothrombo,  "  you  may  think  this  usage 
very  severe  ;  but  to  show  you  upon  what  a  weak  foundation  you  build 
your  pretenses  to  support  an  opera,  I'll  prove  by  twenty-five  substantial 
reasons,  that  you  are  no  more  of  a  composer,  nor  know  no  more  of  mu- 
sick  than  you  do  of  algebra.  First,  then,  sir,  have  you  taken  your  de- 
grees ?  Boh  !  ha,  ha,  ha  !  Are  you  a  doctor,  sir  ?  Ah,  ah  !  A  fino 
composer,  indeed,  and  not  a  graduate.  Fie,  fie,  you  might  as  well  pre- 
tend to  be  a  judge  without  having  been  ever  called  to  the  bar ;  or  pretend 
to  be  a  bishop,  and  not  a  Chiistian.  Why,  Dr.  Pushpin  and  Dr.  Blue 
[Pepusch  and  Greene]  laugh  at  you,  and  scorn  to  keep  you  company;  and 
they  have  vowed  to  me  that  it  is  scarcely  possible  to  imagine  hoAv  much 
better  they  composed  after  the  commencement  gown  was  thrown  over 
their  shoulders  than  before  ;  it  was  as  if  p.  musical had  laid  hands  up- 
on them,  and  inspired  them  with  the  enthusiasm  of  harmony.  Secondly, 
sir,  I  understand  you  have  never  read  Euclid,  are  a  declared  foe  to  all 
the  proper  modes,  and  forms,  and  tones  of  musick,  and  scorn  to  be  sub- 
servient to,  or  tied  up  by  rules  genius  cramped.  Thirdly,  sir,  it  has 
been  objected  to  you,  I  believe  with  some  truth  (for  I  never  knew  one 
man  to  take  your  part  in  it),  that  you  can  no  more  dance  a  Cheshire  horn- 
pipe than  you  can  fly  down  a  rope  from  Paul's  Church  ;  a  composer,  and 
not  dance  a  Cheshire  round  !     Incredible  !     But  as  for  my  fifth  reason, 

sir,  by  G d,  you  have  made  such  musick  as  never  man  did  before 

you,  nor,  I  believe,  never  will  be  thought  of  again  when  you're  gone 
•    *    *    Finally  :   It  has  been  made  manifest  to  the  religious  part  of 


HARMONY  IN    AN  UPROAR.        195 

ick  entertainment  in  mnsick,  called  Te?'2?sicore,^''  A  copy 
of  the  opera-book  used  at  the  performance,  containing 
the  opera  and  Terpsichore^  under  the  name  of  Prologo, 
is  in  the  British  Museum.  It  is  entitled,  "  Opera  da  Rap- 
presentarsi  nel  Novo  Reggio  Teatro  di  Covent  Garden." 
Burney  is  mistaken  when  he  says*  that  the  Frologo  was 
given  at  the  King's  Theater  on  the  18th  of  May. 

The  Daily  Journal  of  the  21st  of  March,  1734,  fur- 
nishes the  progiamme  of  a  performance  at  Covent  Gar- 
den, for  the  bynelit  of  Madlle.  Salle,  in  which  we  find 
"  '  Les  Characteres  de  I'Amour,'  in  which  will  be  ex- 
pressed the  various  passions  of  love,  by  Madlle.  Salle." 

your  audiences,  that  you  have  practiced  sorcery  upon  his  majesty's 
liege  subjects. 

"  But  to  come  a  httle  nearer  to  the  merits  of  the  cause,  and  give  you  a 
■wound  where  you  think  yourself  most  secure  :  '  your  party  very  confi- 
dently, and  with  an  air  of  wisdom,  give  out  that  you  are  all  very  much 
surprised  that  so  weighty  a  part  of  the  grand  legislature  should  employ 
both  their  time  and  money  so  ill,  as  in  setting  up  one  opera-house  to 
ruin  another,  without  ever  giving  the  appearance  of  a  formal  reason  for 
acting  so ;  when  their  precious  hours  and  vast  parts  might,  at  this  critical 
junctui-e,  be  of  infinite  service  to  their  country,  when  we  are  almost  at  a 
loss  how  to  behave,' 

"  Mighty  pretty,  truly — how  charmingly  wise  and  sententious  !  Nota- 
ble speech-makers  indeed  !  How  niurder  will  out !  Does  not  this  objec- 
tion alone  make  good  all  that  we  have  been  disputing  about  these  three 
hours  ?  Is  it  not  obvious  that  so  many  great  men,  miglity  great  men 
(who  are  so  overloaded  with  the  burden  of  public  affairs,  that  all  com- 
mon necessaries  of  life  are  neglected  to  attend  that  service),  would  ever 
have  taken  all  this  trouble  about  so  *  *  *  paltry  a  fellow  as  you  ? 
Had  not  your  insolence  arrived  to  such  an  unparalleled  pitch  of  auda- 
ciousness, that  it  quite  threatened  the  utter  ruin  of  the  nation,  had  they 
not  timely  stood  in  the  gap  made  in  our  liberties  and  properties  by  your 
musick,  the  torrent,  in  another  year  or  two,  might  have  swept  away — 
God  knows  what.  But,  like  true  patriots,  they  interposed,  and  ven- 
tured lives  and  fortunes  to  save  us.  Nor  is  it  these  mighty  men  alone 
that  would  devour  you  ;  the  whole  musical  world  is  united  against  you," 
etc. 

This  satire  shows  with  what  kind  of  opposition  and  what  redoubtable 
enemies  Handel  was  engaged  ;  but  nothing  could  quell  his  courage,  and 
it  was  spiritedly  that  he  entered  into  a  new  phase  of  existence,  in  which 
lie  alone  was  to  support  the  brunt  of  the  war. 

"  Moi  seul ;  et  c'est  assez  !" — Tamrede. 

*  Page  377. 


196  LIFE    or     HANDEL. 

Tlie  success  obtained  by  the  French  danseuse^  at  the 
English  theater,  probably  gave  Handel  the  idea  of  mak- 
ing her  repeat  her  "  Characteres."  Terpsichore  (accord- 
ing to  the  analysis  made  of  it  by  Mr.  Lacy)  is  evidently 
a  s})ecies  of  framework  for  such  an  entertainment.  Apollo, 
addressing  his  melodlosa  germana^  Erato,  explains  to  her 
that  he  has  quitted  Parnassus  in  order  to  see  his  "  new 
Academy"  [novo  3Iuseo)^  which  is  worthy  of  him,  of  her, 
and  of  Jupiter.  This  is  enough  to  introduce  a  song  on 
Ja|>iter,  "  Gran  tonante,"  taken  from  JParnasso  hi  Festa. 
Apollo  afterward  asks  Erato  where  her  sister  Terpsichore 
may  be,  and  Erato  replies  that  she  can  not  be  far  off.  She 
then  praises  her  "  intelligent  feet,"  and  Terpsichore  ap- 
pears to  a  prelude  taken  from  Ptolemy.  They  then  en- 
gage her  in  a  duet,  "  Col  tuoi  piedi,"  to  join  with  their 
harmonies,  to  which  the  choreographic  goddess  replies 
by  a  saraband  to  the  melody  of  the  duet.  Apollo  then 
desires  her  to  express  "the  transports  of  a  lover  who 
desires  to  obtain  the  object  of  his  passion,"  which  she 
does  by  a  jig.  Erato  afterward  begs  her  to  represent 
the  hopes  and  fears  of  a  heart  wounded  by  love  ;  and  to 
give  her  an  idea  of  what  they  wish,  and  probably  also  a 
little  time  to  take  breath,  Erato  and  Apollo  sing  a  second 
duet,  "  Tuoi  passi  son  dardi,"  the  music  of  which  she 
takes  in  executing  her  pantomime.  Besides  this,  there 
is  an  air  and  a  duet,  followed  by  dances ;  and  then  the 
three  divinities  suddenly  disappear  in  the  midst  of  a  final 
chorus.* 

If  a  little  tablet  of  white  marble,  which  I  have  seen  in 
the  hut  of  Peter  the  Great  at  Saardam,  is  to  be  believed, 
the  Emperor  Alexander  said,  when  he  visited  the  habita- 
tion of  his  ancestor,  "  Nothing  is  too  small  for  a  great 
man."  But  Handel  had  long  ago  proved  the  justice  of 
this  reflection,  when  he  undertook  to  write  a  little  ballet, 
intermixed  with  songs. 

It  is  a  part  of  Terpsichore  that  Arnold  published  under 
*  See  "Catalogue  of  Works." 


AMUSEMENTS.  197 

the  title  of  ^  Jfasque.  "Without  knowing  wh;it  he  was 
doing,  he  gave  to  the  composition  the  name  of  the  class 
to  M^hich  it  really  belongs.  The  word  "  Masque"  in  En- 
gland is  equivalent  to  the  French  word  "  Intermede." 
In  England,  as  in  France,  they  were  performed  at  the 
court  and  at  the  houses  of  the  rich.  The  dances  were 
executed,  not  by  professional  artists,  but  by  the  guests. 
Even  princes  themselves  took  part  in  them.  We  are 
told  that  that  voracious  and  sanguinary  monarch,  Louis 
XIV.,  the  king  of  the  dragonnades^  danced  very  gal- 
lantly !*  The  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries 
jumped  about  terribly.  In  reading  the  books  and  cata- 
logues of  music  belonging  to  that  epoch,  we  find  dancing 
airs  and  dancing  masters  in  every  line  ;  and  what  an  im- 
mense variety  of  different  steps !  It  must  have  been  a 
very  long,  a  very  laborious,  and  a  very  fatiguing  opera- 
tion to  learn  them  all.  Never,  surely,  did  people  give 
themselves  so  much  trouble  for  amusement.  The  oddest 
thing  was,  that  all  these  choreographic  entertainments 
partake  of  a  solemn  and  langourous  character.  Busby 
says  that  the  Chaconne  "is  slow  and  graceful,  graver 
than  the  Saraband,  which  it  resembles."  Bat  the  Sara- 
band, says  Busby  again,  was  itself  "  expressive  and  ma- 
jestic."  What,  therefore,  must  have  been  the  gravity 
of  the  Chaconne,  when  it  was  graver  than  the  majestic 
Saraband  !  Busby  also  informs  us  that  the  Musette  was 
"of  a  tender  character,"  and  the  Sicilienne  "  of  a  sweet 
and  pastoral  character ;"  and  Mr.  Lichtenthal  says  that 
the  Passacaille  was  "  a  kind  of  Chaconne,  with  a  moder- 
ated and  rather  melancholy  movement."  The  Passacaille 
must  have  been  a  Spanish  dance — Passacalle^  danced  by 
the  people  in  the  streets  at  the  epoch  of  the  carnival ; 
whence  the  name,  "  passing  in  the  street."     Judging  by 

*  This  reminds  me  of  a  very  witty  reply  by  Lully,  the  king's  ballet- 
master.  One  day,  as  he  was  preparing  an  intermede,  he  was  told  that 
his  majesty  was  tired  of  waiting.  "  The  king,"  said  he,  "  is  the  master, 
and  so  he  may  be  as  tired  as  he  pleases." 


•198  LIFE    OF    HANDEL. 

their  titles,  many  other  dances  were  of  Spanish  origin. 
Ti:e  Saraband  must  be  the  Moorish  Zarabanda  of  Anda- 
lusia. Every  nation  has  its  dances,  and  has  imprinted 
upon  them  its  own  character.  The  impetuous  Irish  in- 
vented the  Jig;  the  lively  Italians  the  Saltarella,  the 
Corante,  and  the  Volante ;  and  the  French,  with  their 
disposition  to  go  to  extremes,  have  invented  the  Galop. 
But  (although  Cicero  has  pretended  that  no  man  can 
dance  without  either  being  drunk  or  a  fool)  man  is  an 
animal  so  deplorably  given  to  jumping,  that  every  nation 
has  reciprocally  bori'owed  the  choreographic  inventions 
of  every  other. 

Each  of  these  dances  had  its  own  special  music,  the 
form  of  which  sometimes  found  its  way,  with  the  name, 
into  more  serious  compositions.  Thus,  we  find  a  "  Pas- 
sacaile"  among  the  seven  /Sonatas  or  Trios  of  Handel. 
There  are  several  to  be  found  in  the  operas  of  the  for- 
midable Gluck.  Scarcely  any  of  the  overtures  in  the 
eighteenth  century  was  without  a  Jig,  and  still  fewer 
concertos  for  the  harpsichord  without  an  Allemande. 
The  musicians  of  the  sixteenth  century  wrote  an  infinite 
number  of  pavanes ;  and  the  pavane  was  nothing  but  a 
dance.  According  to  J.  J.  Rousseau's  l>ictionnaire  de 
Musique^  it  was  so  called  "  because  the  dancers  made  a 
sort  of  wheel,  in  looking  at  each  other,  as  the  peacocks 
do  with  their  tails.  To  make  the  wheel  the  man  would 
use  his  cape  and  his  sword,  which  he  wore  in  that  dance ; 
and  it  is  by  allusion  to  the  vanity  of  that  attitude  that 
the  reciprocal  verb  se  pavaner  (peacockify)  was  in- 
vented." Who  does  not  deplore  the  loss  of  the  pea- 
cock's dance  ? 

After  Pastor  Fido^  and  the  Characters  of  Love^ 
expressed  by  Madlle.  Salle's  feet,  Ariadne  reappeared, 
and  was  performed  until  the  18th  of  December,  1734; 
when  it  was  replaced  by  an  Orestes — a  pure  pasticcio, 
which  Handel  took  out  of  his  own  works.  The  score, 
entirely  written  by  his  own  hand,  is  in  Smith's  collection. 


"art  A  XERXES."  190 

Afterward  he  caused  liis  Ai'lodante  to  be  represented  on 
the  8lh  of  January,  1735,  in  wliich  Madlle.  Salle  figured 
in  the  final  ballet.*  ArlodtDite  was  performed  twelve 
times. 

Rich,  while  he  made  roam  for  Handel  at  Covent  Gar- 
den, continued  to  direct  it  for  his  own  profit,  and  de- 
rived some  advantage  from  the  extras  Avhich  the  great 
composer  added  to  his  entertainments.  The  Daily 
Journal  for  the  iVth  of  April,  1735,  advertises:  "At 
Covent  Garden  the  ])lay  of  Henry  4th,  with  entertain- 
ments of  dancing.  The  Grecian  Sailors,  as  it  was  per- 
formed in  the  opera  of  Orestes ;  and  a  grand  ballet, 
called  the  Faithful  Shepherd,  as  performed  in  the  opera 
of  Pastor  Fido." 

The  company  which  the  nobles  were  patronizing  in 
the  Hay  market,  was  then  enjoying  a  great  success  with 
Hasse's  masterpiece,  Artaxerxes^  which  had  been  per- 
formed since  the  27th  of  October,  I734.f  Hasse,  who 
had  been  sent  for  to  London  for  the  occasion,  cried, 
"  Then  Handel  is  dead !"  and  refused  to  come  when  he 
heard  that  he  was  not.  ]M.  Fetis  repeats,  after  Main  waring, 
that  he  allowed  himself  to  be  tempted  subsequently,  and 
that  he  arrived  in  1740,  to  superintend  the  production 
of  Artaxerxes.  This  work,  as  we  have  just  seen,  was 
produced  in  1734,  and  under  the  superintendence  of  Por- 
pora.  In  1  740,^  both  the  rival  theaters  had  died  of  in- 
anition.    Burney,  who  follows  step  by  step  the  progress 

*  She  returned  to  France  in  the  following  year.  On  her  return  to  the 
Grand  Opera,  "  an  ingenious  gentleman,"  says  the  General  Advertiser 
of  the  lOtli  of  July,  1735,  wrote  an  epigram  upon  her,  the  justice  of  which 
her  reputation  does  not  induce  us  to  believe  : 

"  Mistress  Salle  toujours  errante, 
Et  qui  partout  \it  mecoutente, 
Sourde  encore  du  bruit  d^s  siftiets, 
Le  ccBur  gros,  la  bourse  legcre, 
Reviens  maudissant  les  Anglais, 
Conune  en  partant  pour  TAngleterre, 
Elle  maudissait  les  Fran§ais." 
t  Theatrical  Register. 


200  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

of  the  quarrel,  and  who  often  refers  to  Ilasse,  never 
mentions  liis  arrival  in  England.  Hawkins  states  that  he 
resisted  all  the  endeavors  which  were  made  to  induce 
him  to  come,  ''not  wishing  to  become  a  competitor  with 
a  man  so  greatly  his  superior."  His  Artaxerxes  was  sung 
by  Farinelli,  Montagnana,  Senesino,  and  Signora  Cuz- 
zoni. 

In  the  face  of  so  formidable  a  coalition,  and  in  the 
midst  of  the  distracting  occupation  of  managership, 
Handel,  while  producing  during  the  whole  of  Lent, 
from  the  5th  of  March  to  the  12th  of  April,  fourteen 
performances  of  oratorios,*  was  still  able  to  find  both 
time  and  strength  enough  for  composition.  On  the  16th 
of  April,  1735,  he  was  in  a  condition  to  reopen  the  theat- 
rical season  with  Alcina,  which  was  finished  on  the  8th 
of  April,  and  contained  thirty-two  airs,  one  duet,  and 
four  little  choruses.  Moreover,  at  each  performance  he 
directed  the  orchestra  in  person ;  and  at  the  perform- 
ances of  oratorios  he  played  one,  two,  and  sometimes 
even  three  concertos  on  the  organ.  Thus,  the  Dally 
Journaliox  the  1st  of  April  announces — '''' AtJmlla^  with 
a  new  concerto  on  the  organ  ;  also  the  first  concerto  in 
the  oratorio  of  Esther^  and  the  last  in  Deborah?''  Be- 
sides all  this,  he  had  to  provide  the  reclames^  of  which  he 
seems  to  have  understood  the  full  effect.  In  the  Daily 
Journal  of  the  3d  of  April,  1735,  we  find:  "We  hear 
that  the  youth  (a  new  voice)  who  was  introduced  in  tiie 
oratorio  of  Athalia  last  night,  at  the  theater  royal  in 
Govent  Garden,  met  with  universal  applause.'-  This  on 
dit^  very  probably,  came  from  no  further  than  the  mana- 
gerial room  at  Covent  Garden.  But  the  puffs  of  Handel 
had  none  of  that  wonderful  and   comically  boastful  au- 

*  Esther,  "  an  oratorio,  in  English,  with  several  new  additions,  both 
vocal  and  instrumental ;  likewise  two  new  concertos  on  the  organ,"  on 
March  5th,  7th,  12th,  14th,  19th,  and  21st. 

Deborah,  "with  a  new  concerto  on  the  organ  ;  also  the  1st  concerto  in 
the  oratorio  o? Esther^''''  on  March  2Gth,  28th,  and  31st. 

Athalia^  on  April  1st,  2d,  3d,  9tb,  and  12th.    (See  Daily  J&urnal.) 


LETTER    TO     JEXNENS.  201 

dacity  which  characterizes  the  puffs  of  the  present  day, 
inasmuch  as  tliey  always  preserved  a  Uttle  of  tlie  dignity 
of  his  character ;  but  still  it  must  be  confessed  that,  in 
spite  of  all  his  pnde,  he  had  recourse,  more  than  once,  to 
that  means  of  exciting  curiosity.  It  may  be  urged  in 
excuse,  that  the  press  of  that  day  was  entirely  ignorant 
of  art,  and  that  we  can  not  find  in  any  journal  one  single 
serious  article  upon  any  of  his  works. 

Alcina,  which  is  one  of  his  admired  productions,  was 
pretty  well  received,  and  brought  the  season  to  a  close. 
A  letter,  written  by  Handel  shortly  afterward,  shows 
him  on  the  point  of  setting  out  to  take  the  Tunbridge 
waters,  and  with  no  fixed  plan  for  the  following  season : 

"  To  Charles  Jexxexs,  Esq.,  Jux. 

"London,  July  28th,  1735. 
"  Sir — I  received  your  very  agreeable  letter  with  the 
inclosed  oratorio.*  lam  just  going  to  Tunbridge ;  yet 
what  I  could  read  of  it  in  haste,  gave  me  a  great  deal  of 
satisfkction.  I  shall  have  more  leisure  time  there  to  read 
it  with  all  the  attention  it  deserves.  There  is  no  cer- 
tainty of  any  scheme  for  next  season,  but  it  is  probable 
that  something  or  other  may  be  done,  of  which  I  shall  take 
the  liberty  to  give  you  notice,  being  extremely  obliged 
to  you  for  the  generous  concern  you  show  upon  this  ac- 
count. The  oj^era  of  Alcina  is  a  writing  out,  and  shall 
be  sent  according  to  your  direction.  It  is  always  a 
great  pleasure  to  me,  if  I  have  an  opportunity,  to  show 
the  sincere  respect  with  which  I  have  the  honor  to  be, 
sir,  etc.,  etc., 

"  G.  F.  HAXDEL."t 

*  "What  can  be  the  oratorio  referred  to  ?  Between  AtJialia,  in  1733, 
and  Saul,  in  1738,  Handel  did  not  write  any.  The  author  of  the  poem 
of  Saul  remains  unknown  to  the  present  day.  It  may,  however,  have 
been  Charles  Jennens,  who  afterward  composed  for  Handel  the  words 
of  I7ie  Messiah,  of  Belshazzar,  and  of  II  Moderato,  added  to  the  Allegro  e 
Penseroso  of  Milton. 

t  This  letter,  which  is  preserved  by  the  present  Lord  Howe,  a  de- 
9* 


202  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

The  state  of  uncertainty  in  wliich  Handel  remained,  as 
to  what  he  sliould  do,  was  increased  by  the  departure 
of  Carestini,  whom  a  previous  engagement  compelled  to 
go  to  Venice.  Carestini  was  the  only  man  capable  of 
counterbalancing  the  brilliancy  of  Farinelli's  success  at 
the  rival  theater.  Italian  operas  can  not  dispense  with  a 
singer  of  the  first  rank  ;  so  Handel  abandoned  them  for 
the  moment,  and  in  the  month  of  January  he  resolved  to 
treat  the  English  subject  of  Alexa?ide7'^s  JFeast,  which  he 
improvised  in  three  weeks.  He  gave  it  at  Covent  Gar- 
den Theater,  where  it  was  sung  by  the  artists  of  the 
theater:  Beard,  an  English  tenor;  Erard,  a  basso;  and 
Miss  Young  ;*  assisted  by  Sg^.  Strada,  who  was  always 
faithful  to  the  great  composer. 

It  appears,  by  the  Poems  of  John  IIughes^\  that,  in 
the  year  ]7ll,  Sir  Richard  Steele  and  Mr.  Clayton  had 
concerts  of  music  in  York  Buildings,  on  which  occasion 
they  sent  Mr.  Hughes  the  followmg  letter : 

*'  Dear  Sir — Mr.  Clayton  and  I  desire  you,  as  soon  as 
you  can  conveniently,  to  alter  this  poem  J  for  music,  pre- 
serving as  many  of  Dryden's  w^ords  and  verses  as  you 
can.  It  is  to  be  performed  by  a  voice  well  skilled  in 
recitatives ;  but  you  understand  all  these  matters  much 
better  than         Your  affectionate  humble  servant, 

"  R.  Steele." 

Hughes  did  as  he  was  requested  ;  but  a  letter,  sub- 
sequently addressed  by  him  to  Steele,  informs  us  that 
Clayton's  music  was  far  from  satisfying  the  connoisseurs. 
Handel  then  took  his  tui-n  at  what  Clayton  had  failed  in 

seendant  of  Charles  Jenuens,  Esq.,  liaa  been  communicated  to  Dr.  "VV. 
Horsley,  who  inserted  it  in  the  preface  to  liis  editon  of  The  Messiah,. 

*  Miss  Cecilia  Young,  who  became  tlie  wife  of  Dr.  Arne  in  1736,  re- 
mained for  many  years  among  tlie  artists  of  Handel.  She  had  made  her 
dehut  at  the  reopening  of  tlie  little  theater  in  the  Haymarket,  on  the  16th 
of  November,  1732.     {Daihj  Post.) 

t  Vol.  i.,  p.  17.  X  Alexander'' 8  Feast. 


ALEXANDER'S     FEAST, 


203 


doing.  Dryden's  ode,  Aleo^atidei'^s  JFbast,  or  the  Power 
o/  Jfiisic,  was  divided  for  him  into  airs,  recitatives,  and 
choruses,  by  Newburg  Hamilton,  who  tlius  expresses 
Iiimself  in  the  preface  : 

"  The  following  ode,  being  miiversally  allowed  to  be 
the  most  perfect  of  its  kind  (at  least  in  our  language), 
all  admirers  of  polite  amusements  have  with  impaliencc 
expected  its  appearing  in  a  musical  dress  equal  to  the 
subject.  But  the  late  improvements  in  music  varying  so 
much  from  the  turn  of  composition  for  which  this  poem 
was  originally  designed,  most  people  despaired  of  seeing 
that  affair  properly  accomplished.  The  alteration  in  the 
words  (necessary  to  render  them  tit  to  receive  modern 
composition)  being  thought  scarcely  practicable  without 
breaking  in  upon  that  flow  of  spirit  winch  runs  through 
the  whole  of  the  poem,  which  of  consequence  would  be 
rendered  flat  and  insipid.  But  upon  a  more  particular 
review  of  the  ode,  these  seeming  difficulties  vanished, 
though  I  was  determined  not  to  take  any  unwarrantable 
liberty  with  that  poem,  which  has  so  long  done  honor 
to  the  nation,  and  which  no  man  can  add  to  or  abiidge 
in  any  thing  material,  without  injuring  it.  I  therefore 
confined  myself  to  a  plain  division  of  it  into  airs,  recita- 
tives, or  choruses,  looking  upon  the  words  in  general  so 
sacred  as  scarcely  to  violate  one  in  the  order  of  its  first 
place.  How  I  have  succeeded,  the  world  is  to  judge  ; 
and  whether  I  have  preserved  the  beautiful  description 
of  the  passions  so  exquisitely  drawn,  at  the  same  time  I 
strove  to  reduce  them  to  the  present  taste  in  sounds.  I 
confess  my  principal  view  w^as  not  to  lose  this  favorable 
opportunity  of  its  being  set  to  musick  by  that  great 
master,  who  has  with  pleasure  undertaken  the  task,  and 
who  only  is  capable  of  doing  it  justice  ;  whose  composi- 
tions have  long  shown  that  they  can  conquer  even  the 
most  obstinate  partiality,  and  inspire  life  into  the  most 
senseless  words. 

"  If  this  entertainment  can,  in  the  least  degree,  give 


204  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

satisfaction  to  the  real  judges  of  poetry  or  rausick,  I  shall 
think  myself  happy  in  having  promoted  it,  being  per- 
Siiaded  that  it  is  next  to  an  improhability  to  oifer  the 
world  any  thing  in  those  arts  more  perfect  than  the  united 
labors  and  utmost  efforts  of  a  Dryden  and  a  Handel." 

Not  content  with  this  eulogium,  Newburg  Hamilton 
added  to  his  preface  these  verses : 

"TO  MK.  HANDEL, 

"  On  his  SETrma  to  Music  Mr.  Deyden's  '  Feast  of  Axexandee.' 

"Let  others  charm  the  listening  scaly  brood, 
Or  tame  the  savage  monsters  of  the  wood  ; 
With  magic  notes  enchant  the  leafy  grove, 
Or  force  even  things  inanimate  to  move : 
Be  ever  your's  (my  friend),  the  god-like  art, 
To  calm  the  passions,  and  improve  the  heart ; 
The  tyrant's  rage,  and  hell-born  pride  control. 
Or  sweetly  soothe  to  peace  the  mourning  soul ; 
With  martial  warmth  the  hero's  breast  inspire, 
Or  fan  new-kindling  love  to  chaste  desire. 

That  artist's  hand  (whose  skill  alone  could  move 
To  glory,  grief,  or  joy,  the  son  of  Jove) 
Not  greater  raptures  to  the  Grecian  gave, 
Than  British  theaters  from  you  receive ; 
That  ignorance  and  envy  vanquished  see, 
Heaven  made  you  rule  the  world  by  harmony. 

Two  glowing  sparks  of  that  celestial  flame 
Which  warms  by  mystic  art  this  earthly  frame, 
United  in  one  blaze  of  genial  heat, 
Produced  this  piece  in  sense  and  sounds  complete  ; 
The  sister  arts,  as  breathing  from  one  soul. 
With  equal  spirit  animate  the  whole. 

Had  Dryden  lived  the  welcome  day  to  bless, 
Which  clothed  his  numbers  in  so  fit  a  dress  ; 
When  his  majestic  poetry  was  crowned. 
With  all  your  bright  magnificence  of  sound  ; 
How  would  his  wonder  and  his  transport  rise. 
Whilst  famed  Timotheus  yields  to  you  the  prize." 

I  haA^e  heard  Alexaiider'^ s  Feast  but  twice,  but  that  is 
sufficient  to  make  me  a  sharer  in  Hamilton's  enthusiasm. 
Every  thing  is  superb  in  tluat  woi-k,  in  which  Handel 
once  more  displayed  the  sovereign  power  of  his  genius 


I 

"ALEXANDER'S     FEAST."  205 

for  clioval  combinations.  It  was  performed  on  the  19th 
of  February,  1786,"^'  "after  tlie  manner  of  an  oratorio," 
tiiat  is  to  say,  without  action.  The  pubhc,  if  it  may, be 
said,  liad  guessed  that  this  was  a  masterpiece.  The  Lon- 
don Daily  Post  says  : — "  There  never  was,  upon  the  like 
occasion,  so  numerous  and  splendid  an  audience  at  any 
theater  in  London,  there  being  at  least  thirteen  hundred 
persons  peresent;  and  it  is  judged  that  the  receipts  of 
the  house  could  not  amount  to  less  than  four  hundred 
and  fifty  pounds.  It  met  with  general  applause,  though 
attended  with  the  inconvenience  of  having  the  perform- 
ers placed  at  too  great  a  distance  from  the  audience, 
which  we  hear  will  be  rectified  the  next  time  of  per- 
formance." Thirteen  hundred  spectators  were,  there- 
fore, an  exceptional  audience  at  that  time. 

Alexander'' s  Feast^  with  Esther  and  Acis^]v\^i  managed 
to  support  the  season,  but  that  w\as  all ;  they  could  nei- 
ther redeem  the  losses  of  the  past,  nor  stay  the  ruin 
which  was  coming  on.  In  spite  of  its  greatest  success, 
Alexander'^s  Feast  was  only  published  in  1*738,1  two  years 
after  its  first  representation.  It  is  difficult  to  understand 
the  reason  of  this  extraordinary  delay,  since  all  Handel's 
compositions  were,  at  that  time,  printed  almost  immedi- 
ately by  Walsh.  The  edition  was  brought  out  by  sub- 
scription, and  contains  a  list  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  sub- 
scribers, among  whom  we  find  the  Princess  of  Orange, 
her  four  sisters,  the  Prince  of  Wales,  and  the  Duke  of 
Cumberland.  Charles  Jennen's  name  is  down  for  six 
copies ;  the  Countess  of  Chesterfield,  for  five  ;  Richard 
Freeman,  for  five  ;  the  Countess  of  Pembroke,  for  five  ; 
and  the  Philharmonic  Society,  for  five.  The  price  was  a 
guinea.  Handel,  therefore,  gained  by  this  subscription 
nearly   two   hundred   guineas.     Tiiis   volume,   which  is 

*  See  London,  Daily  Post.  Hawkins  is,  therefore,  in  error  when  he 
phxces  this  composition  after  the  illness  which  compelled  Handel  to  take 
the  waters  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  which  was  in  1737. 

t  See  "  Catalogue." 


206  LIFE    OF    HANDEL. 

printed  upon  larger  paper,  has  the  exceptional  peculiar- 
ity of  containing  all  the  recitatives  and  all  the  choruses.* 
Although  Esther^  Acis^  and  Alexander's  Feast  (all 
English  works)  were  more  fortunate  than  any  of  his  ope- 
ras, the  indefatigable  composer-manager  of  Covent  Gar- 
den thought  that  it  was  always  indispensable  to  have  an 
Italian  company.  He  therefore  set  at  once  about  bring- 
ing one  together  again,  and  he  took  care  to  keep  the 
public  informed  with  respect  to  his  movements.  In  the 
journals  of  the  13th  of  April,  1736,  we  find  it  adver- 
tised:— "We  hear  that  Signor  Conti,  who  is  regarded  as 
the  best  singer  in  Italy,  and  whom  Mi\  Handel  is  bring- 
ing over,  is  expected  in  a  few  days."  He  made  his  debut 
on  the  12th  of  May,  in  Atalanta^  which  formed  part  of 
festivities  criven  on  the  occasion  of  the  marriage  of  Fred- 
eric,  Prince  of  Wales,  with  a  princess  of  the  house  of 
Saxe-Gotha.f 

*  The  magnificeut  poem  of  Alexande7''s  Feast,  which  has  never  been  ex- 
celled since  the  time  when  Hamilton  placed  it  above  every  composition 
of  the  same  kind,  is  the  second  of  Drydeu's  two  Odes  on  St.  CeciUa's  Day. 
Poets  generally  expose  their  vanity  with  less  reserve  than  other  men. 
If  the  £  log  raphla  jDramatica  is  to  be  believed,  Dryden  was  as  much  a 
poet  in  this  respect  as  it  was  possible  to  be  : — "  A  late  learned  judge  in 
his  youth  frequented  Wills'  Coffee-house,  and  occasionally  entered  into 
conversation  with  the  old  bard.  Soon  after  the  first  appearance  of  Alex- 
ander''s  Feast,  he  congratulated  the  author  on  his  having  produced  an  ode 
which  the  whole  town  considered  as  the  best  composition  of  that  kind 
that  had  ever  been  written.  *  Why,  it  is  so,'  said  Dryden,  '  and  I  tell 
you  further,  young  man,  it  is  the  best  ode  that  ever  will  be  written.'  " 

Mr.  Derrick,  in  his  Life  of  Dryden  [Dryden''s  Worl's,  Moxon's  edition] 
says,  on  the  authority  of  Boyle,  that  tlie  poet  i-eceived  forty  pounds  from 
a  musical  society  for  the  use  of  this  Ode  on  St.  Cecilia'' s  Day  ! 

St.  Cecilia  has  been  chosen  as  the  jxatrouess  of  musicians  on  account  of 
the  tradition  that  she  was  the  tirst  saint  who  accompanied  herself  by  in- 
strumental music,  while  singing  her  prayers.  The  authenticity  of  her 
martyrdom,  which  is  stated  to  have  taken  place  on  the  22d  of  November, 
A.D.  300  or  320,  is  disputed  by  the  best  critics.  [Fet'is.']  Raphael  represents 
her  at  the  organ,  Dorainicino  playing  the  violoncello,  and  Mignard  touch- 
ing the  harp.  If  they  are  all  to  be  believed,  her  musical  talents  must 
have  been  less  doubtful  than  her  martyrdom. 

+  The  Dally  Fast  says  of  this  piece  de  circonstance,  that  there  "  was  a  new 
set  of  scenes  painted  in  honor  of  the  happy  union,  which  took  up  the  full 


MAREIAGE    OF    THE    PRINCE    OF     WALES.      207 

Handel  liad  written  for  the  religious  ceremony  an  an- 
them, which  was  performed  in  the  chapel  royal  of  St. 
James's  on  the  27th  of  April,  1736,  and  which  is  called, 
after  the  circumstance  which  gave  lise  to  its  composition, 
the  Wedding  Anthem.  It  is  generally  considered  to  be 
a  work  worthy  of  its  author,  although,  perhaps,  rather 
light  in  style  for  an  anthem — even  for  a  wedding  anthem. 

Atalanta  was  revived  on  the  26th  of  the  following  No- 
vember, in  honor   of  the  anniversary  of  the  princess's 

length  of  the  stage ;  tlie  fore  part  of  the  scene  represented  an  avenue  to 
the  tem^Dle  of  Hymen,  adorned  with  statues  of  heathen  deities.  Next  was 
a  triumplial  arcli,  on  the  sununit  of  which  were  the  arms  of  their  royal 
highnesses.  Under  the  arch  was  the  figure  of  Fame  on  a  cloud,  sound- 
ing the  praises  of  this  happy  pair.  The  names  Fredericus  and  Augusta 
appeared  above,  in  transparent  characters ,  The  opera  concluded  with  a 
grand  chorus,  during  which  several  beautiful  illuminations  were  dis- 
played. There  were  present,  their  majesties,  the  duke,  and  the  four 
princesses,  accompanied  with  a  very  splendid  audience,  and  the  whole 
was  received  with  universal  acclamations,"  Malcolm  adds:  "Through 
the  arch  appeared  the  fa9ade  of  a  temple,  consisting  of  four  columns  and 
a  pediment,  on  which  two  Cupids  were  represented,  embracing,  and  sup- 
porting the  coronet  and  feathers  of  the  principality  of  Wales ;  the  temple 
of  Hymen  closed  the  brilliant  scene." 

In  spite  of  the  addition  of  "  two  Cupids,"  we  do  not  think  such  small 
matters  would  gain  much  applause  in  these  days. 

The  princess,  in  whose  honor  these  beautiful  decorations  were  made, 
had  a  humility  which  was  really  worthy  of  the  early  Christians.  From 
Greenwich,  where  she  had  arrived  on  Sunday,  the  25th  of  April,  she 
came  to  London  on  Tuesday,  the  27th.  The  prince  went  to  meet  her  at 
the  gate  of  the  garden  at  St.  James's,  and  "upon  her  sinking  on  her 
knee  to  kiss  his  hand,"  he  raised  her  affectionately,  kissed  her  twice,  and 
conducted  her  to  the  apaitments  of  the  king  and  queen,  "where,  pre- 
sented to  the  king,  her  highness  fell  on  her  knee  to  kiss  his  hand,  but 
was  gently  taken  up  and  saluted  by  him."i  It  would  not  now  be  easy  to 
find  a  servant  so  ready  as  "her  highness,"  to  fall  upon  her  knees,  or 
having  less  repugnance  to  kissing  the  hands  of  men.  We  are  told  after- 
ward that  "  his  majesty  did  his  royal  highness  the  honor  to  put  on  his 
shirt,  and  that  the  bride,  being  in  bed  in  a  rich  undress,  his  majesty 
came  into  the  room,  and  the  prince  following  soon  after,  in  a  night- 
gown of  silver  stuff  and  cap  of  the  finest  lace,  the  quality  were  admitted 
to  see  the  bride  and  bridegroom  sitting  up  in  the  bed."  After  all,  it  is 
only  the  persons  who  live  in  courts  who  can  invent  ceremonials  of  such 
extreme  modesty  and  delicacy. 


1  OfnfJ.emati'ff  Matjazine  for  April,  1736. 


208  LIFE    OF    HANDEL. 

birth-flay ;  and  "  several  fine  devices  in  fireworks,  proper 
to  the  occasion,"  were  exhibited.  If  we  may  believe  the 
London  Daily  Post  of  the  lltli  of  Jaly,  1741,  Handel 
intermingled  an  accompaniment  with  these  "devices  in 
fireworks  ;"  and  the  fact  was  still  remembered  five  years 
afterward :  "  We  hear  that  at  Caper's  Gardens  last 
night,  among  several  pieces  of  musick,  Mr.  Handel's 
Fire  3Iusic^  with  the  fireworks  as  originally  perforvned 
in  the  opera  of  Atalanta^  was  received  with  great  ap- 
plause by  a  numerous  audience." 

I  can  not  discover  what  the  Fire  Music  here  referred 
to  may  be.  There  is  no  trace  of  it  in  the  MSS.,  and,  at 
all  events,  it  must  not  be  confounded  with  the  Fireworks 
Music  which  Handel  composed  in  1749.  Cuper's  Gar- 
den's were  doubtless  established  in  imitation  of  the 
gardens  at  Yauxhall  and  Marylebone. 

On  the  12th  of  January,  1737,  Ar^nhiius  appeared, 
which  was  dedicated,  by  Heidegger,  the  author  of  the 
words,  to  Lady  Godolphin,  the  daughter  of  Marlborough.* 
But  the  name  of  this  great  lady  could  not  protect  Ar- 
niinius^  which  was  withdrawn  after  five  representations. 
It  was,  nevertheless,  published  by  subscription,  as  Ata- 
lanta  had  been.  The  number  of  subscribers  to  the  one 
was  one  hundred  and  eighty,  and  to  the  other  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty.  Burney  does  not  confess,  without  dif- 
ficulty, that  Armi7iius  had  "  few  captivating  airs." 

Justin  or  Giustino  took  its  place,  but  without  filling 
it  with  any  greater  success,  for  it  also  had  only  five  rep- 
resentations, in  spite  of  a  plaintive  unaccompanied  air 
with  a  double  echo,  which  remained  in  favor.  "  Upon 
the  whole,"  says  Burney,  "  this  opera,  so  seldom  acted 
and  so  little  known,  seems  to  me  one  of  the  most  agree- 
able of  Handel's  dramatic  productions."  He  particularly 
praises  "an  animated  and  descriptive  symphony,  which 
Handel  played  while  Justin  engaged  and  slew  a  sea-mon- 
ster." Our  fathers  seem  to  have  had,  for  a  long  time,  a 
*  Compani(m  to  the  Playliouse^  1764. 


ENERGY     OF    CHARACTER.  209 

taste  for  these  combats.  Addison  was  indignant  at  seeing 
Nicolini  fighting  with  the  Dragon  for  the  Folden  Fleece. 
In  1792,  Burgh*  saw  an  opera  at  Venice,  La  ISacrificia  di 
Crete^  in  which  the  singer  David  sang  a  bravura  air  while 
exterminating  the  Minotaur,  and  as  the  air  was  always 
encored,  the  Minotaur  got  up  again,  renewed  the  com 
bat,  and  died  a  second  time.  In  Justin  there  was  no 
lack  of  bears,  fantastic  animals,  and  dragons  vomiting 
fire.  All  this  was  ridiculed  by  Carey  in  The  Dragon  of 
Wantley^  a  parody  set  to  music  by  Lampe,  "  ai'ter  the 
Italian  fashion." 

In  the  beginning  of  1737,  Handel  announced  that  dur- 
ing Lent  the  days  of  representation  would  be  Wednes- 
days and  Fridays ;  but  he  was  obliged  to  relinquish  that 
plan,  for  on  Friday,  March  11th,  the  editor  of  the  Lon- 
don  Daily  Post  says :  "  We  hear  that  since  operas  have 
been  forbidden  being  performed  at  the  theater  in  Covent 
Garden  on  the  Wednesdays  and  Fridays  in  Lent,  Mr. 
Handel  is  preparing  Dryden's  ode  oi  Alexander's  Feast^ 
the  oratorios  of  Esther  and  Deborah^  with  several  new 
concertos  for  the  organ  and  other  instruments;  also  an 
entertainment  of  music,  called  11  Trionfo  del  Tempo  e 
della  Veritd,  Avhich  performances  will  be  brought  on  the 
stage  and  varied  every  week." 

Again  we  have  to  admire  the  energy  of  that  mind 
which  never  gave  way  for  an  instant.  Arminius^  repre- 
sented on  the  12th  of  January,  1737,  fails;  he  produces 
Justin  on  the  16tli  of  February,  and  Justin  fails;  on  the 
9th  and  the  18th  of  March  he  revives  Parnasso  in  Festa 
and  Alexander's  Feast.  Alexander's  Feast  alone  would, 
in  these  days,  have  run  for  a  year  ;  but  the  public  had 
already  heard  it  some  twelve  or  fifteen  times,  and  would 
hear  it  no  more.  Then,  on  the  23d  of  March,  he  re- 
vived his  Italian  oratorio  of  1708,  II  Trionfo  del  Tempo, 
Yet  even  tliat  was  of  no  use,  for  the  public  remained  en- 
tirely inditfei-ent.  When  Lent  was  finislied,  he  gave 
*  Anecdotes  of  Music. 


210  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

Dido^  on  the  13th  of  April,  the  author  of  which  is  not 
known;  but  the  Cartliagenian  Queen  found  the  public  as 
indifterent  to  her  as  ^neas  was.  Finally,  on  the  18th  of 
May,  he  produced  Berenice^  "  which,"  says  Barney,  "in 
spite  of  its  excellence,  could  not  go  beyond  four  repre- 
sentations." 

Handel  was  present  in  person  at  all  these  successive 
defeats,  for  he  presided  every  evening  over  the  organ  oi 
the  harpsichord.  The  fall  oi  Berenice^  following  so  many 
other  failures,  was  the  death-blow.  He  had  exhausted 
all  his  resources — he  had  spent  the  last  penny  of  the 
£10,000  which  he  had  possessed — he  had  contracted 
debts — he  could  go  no  further — he  was  obliged  to  con- 
fess himself  vanquished,  to  close  his  theater,  and  (what 
was  more  grievous  to  so  honest  a  man)  to  suspend  his 
payments.* 

But  the  fallen  giant  had  at  least  the  consolation  of 
seeing  his  enemies  wounded  to  the  death.  General  in- 
difference compelled  them  also  to  quit  the  field  of  battle. 
In  the  month  of  September  of  the  same  year  (1737),  they 
paid  up  their  accounts,  havhig  sustained  a  loss  of  £12,- 
000. f  Farinelli,  disgusted  at  having  to  sing  to  empty 
houses,  had  quitted  England  "  a  la  sourdine'''  (secretly), 
according  to  the  Fi-ench  expression  made  use  of  by  Bur- 
ney.     Porpora  and  Senesino  wei-e  not  slow  to  follow  him. 

How  limited  must  the  taste  for  music  have  been,  when 
two  theaters — for  one  of  which  Hiindel  composed,  while 
Farinelli,  Senesino,  and  Sg^.  Cuzzoni  sang  in  the  other 
— died  of  inanition  !  Yet,  Farinelli  had  excited  immense 
enthusiasm.  His  first  engagement,  in  the  year  1734,  was 
at  the  rate  of  fifteen  hundred  guineas,  and  a  benefit,  for 
fifty  performances.  His  benefit  had  brought  him  two 
thousand  guineas,^;  including  presents — from  the  Prince 
of  Wales,  two  hundred  guineas  ;  from  the  Spanish  em- 
bassador, one  hundi-ed  ;  from  the  Imperial   embassador, 

*  Burney,  p.  25  of  Commemoration.  t  Malcolm. 

X  Gentleman's  Magazbie  for  March,  1735. 


RAGE    FOR     FARIXELLI.  211 

fifty  ;  from  the  Duke  of  Leeds,  Lord  Burlington,  and  the 
Duke  of  Richmond,  fifty  guineas  each ;  Colonel  Paget, 
thirty ;  and  Lady  Rich,  twenty.  The  Prince  of  Wales 
afterward  bestowed  on  him  the  never-failing  snuflf-box, 
"enriched,"  etc.,  and  containing  a  pair  of  diamond  shoe- 
buckles,  and  a  purse  with  one  hundred  guineas. 

On  the  14th  of  Februaiy,  1736  (according  to  the  Gen- 
tlemciii's  Magazine),  "  a  young  lady,  being  sued  by  a 
gentleman  in  a  court  of  equity  for  refusing  to  perform  a 
marriage  promise  to  him,  pleaded  she  had  good  reason 
to  alter  her  mind,  upon  hearing  him  declaring  himself 
no  admirer  of  Farinelli,  and  disapprove  of  balls,  mas- 
querades, and  late  hours ;  adding,  she  doubted  not  but 
that  the  court  would  think  she  had  a  fortunate  escape." 
This  was,  perhaps,  intended  for  a  joke  ;  but  it  proves 
the  fanaticism  of  the  public  in  Farinelli's  favor. 

This  took  place  iu  1736,  and  in  1737  the  great  singer 
left  England  rather  than  appear  before  an  audience  of 
which  the  receipts  were  only  thirty-five  pounds  !  Colley 
Cibber  says  :* — "  The  truth  is,  that  this  kind  of  enter- 
tainment, being  so  entirely  sensual,  it  had  no  possibility 
of  getting  the  better  of  our  reason  but  by  its  novelty ; 
and  that  novelty  could  never  be  supported  but  by  an 
annual  change  of  the  best  voices,  which,  like  the  finest 
flowers,  bloom  but  for  a  season  ;  and  when  that  is  over, 
are  only  dead  nosegays.  From  this  natural  cause,  we 
have  seen,  within  these  two  years,  even  Farhielli  singing 
to  an  audience  of  five-and-thirty  pounds." 

With  a  public  so  artistically  ignorant  as  to  grow  tired 
of  the  most  beautiful  works  in  a  few  days,  it  may  be  im- 
agined how  much,  not  only  of  genius,  but  also  moral 
courage  and  strength  of  will  Handel  required  to  under- 
take its  musical  education,  and  to  cure  it  of  the  insatia- 
ble craving  for  novelty  which  was  caused  by  that  igno- 
rance. 

The  vexation  of  becoming  a  bankrupt  was  a  little 
*  An  Apology  for  the  Life,  etc.,  p.  342. 


212  LIFE    OP    HANDEL. 

sweetened  by  the  confidence  which  his  well-known  and 
perfect  integrity  inspired.  Every  artist  to  whom  he 
owed  anything,  with  the  exception  of  Del  Po,  in  his 
marital  riglit  over  Sg^.  Strada,  accepted,  without  hesita- 
tion, his  bills,  which  were  scrupulously  honored  at  a  later 
period.  On  the  other  hand,  they  could  afford  to  wait ; 
for,  although  they  did  not  then  receive  such  enormous 
salaries  as  they  do  now,  they  were  already  remunerated 
at  a  very  high  rate.* 

*  See  Appendix  L. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

nsr— 1741. 

Illness— FAiLtmE  of  New  Operas— "Funekal  Anthem"- Statue  Erected 
TO  IIaxdel  during  III8  Life — All  the   Great  Intelligences  of  the  Age 

PRONOUNCE     IN     HIS     FaVOR — "  OrGAN      CoNCEHTOS"' — "  SaUL" — "  ISRAEL    IN 

Egypt" — Imitative  Music — English  Odes  and   Serenatas— Unfortunate 
Eeturn  to  Italian  Music — The  Italian  Opera  in  England, 

The  struggle  to  which  Handel  had  succumbed,  not 
only  ruined  him,  but  so  much  agitationand  such  exces- 
sive labor  had  undermined  his  iron  constitution.  The 
journals  mention  his  indisposition  as  early  as  the  month 
of  April,  1737.  In  the  London  Daily  Post  for  the  30th 
of  AjDril,  we  find : — "  Mr.  Handel,  who  has  been  some 
time  indisposed  with  the  rheumatism,  is  in  so  fair  way  of 
recovery  that  it  is  hoped  he  will  be  able  to  accompany 
the  opera  of  Justin  on  Wednesday  next,  the  4th  of 
May."  In  this  state  of  health,  the  difficulties  of  mana- 
gership, which  exposed  a  man  so  full  of  honor  and  pride 
to  the  regrets  and  humiliations  of  an  insolvent  debtor, 
affected  him  to  such  a  degree  that  his  mental  faculties 
were  temporarily  disturbed.*  At  the  same  time  he  had 
an  attack  of  paralysis,  and  he  was  with  the  greatest 
difficulty  persuaded  to  go  to  the  waters  of  Aix-la-Cha- 
pelle,  where  he  was  restored  in  less  than  six  weeks.  So 
prompt  was  his  cure,  that  the  Catholics  of  the  place 
attributed  it  to  a  miracle,  forgetting  for  a  moment  that 
their  Providence  could  scarcely  be  expected  to  work  a 
miracle  in  favor  of  a  patient  so  decidedly  heretical ;  for 
Ilandel  was  a  Lutheran.  On  the  28tli  of  October,  1737, 
the  London  Daily  Post  informs  the  public,  that  "Mr. 
Handel  the  composer  of  Italian  music,"  was  "  hourly 
*  Mainwaring,  p,  120. 


214  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

expected  from  Aix ;"  and  on  the  7th  of  November, 
his  return  is  mentioned  "  greatly  recovered  in  health." 

In  spite  of  the  failure  of  different  operatic  enterprises, 
some  speculator  is  always  to  be  found  who  hopes  to  be 
more  fortunate  or  more  able  than  his  predecessors.  The 
convalescent  found  the  Haymarket  reopened  under  the 
direction  of  Heidegger  the  youngei-,  who  requested  him 
to  write  something.  He  had  debts  to  pay,  and  scarcely 
gave  himself  time  to  take  breath.  He  returned  on  the 
7th  of  November,  and  on  the  15th  he  commenced  Far- 
amonclo  ;  but  Queen  Caroline,  the  wife  of  George  H., 
died  on  the  20th,  and  the  king  desired  him  to  write  an 
anthem  for  the  funeral.  This  he  did,  and  he  finished  the 
opera  by  the  24th  of  December.  This  is  incredible,  but 
it  is  perfectly  true. 

Hawkins  says:* — "  It  was  on  a  Wednesday  that  he  re- 
ceived orders  from  the  king  to  compose  it.  On  the  Sat- 
urday se'nnight  after,  it  was  rehearsed  in  the  morning  ; 
and  on  the  evening  of  the  same  day  it  was  performed  at 
the  solemnity  in  the  chapel  of  King  IJenry  WY.'''' 

The  end  of  the  second  act  of  Faraniondo  is  dated  on 
Sunday,  the  4th  of  December ;  the  following  Wednes- 
day was  tlie  7th,  and  the  anthem  is  signed  on  the  12th. 
This  score,  which  does  not  occupy  less  than  eighty  pages 
of  printing,  was  therefore  written  in  less  than  five  days  ! 
And  it  is  really  a  sublime  work ;  enough  so  to  make  us 
deplore  the  fact  that  it  is  never  performed.  Grandeur  of 
composition,  profundity  of  expression,  beauty  of  harmony 
and  of  melody,  are  all  to  be  found  in  it,  to  the  same 
degree  as  in  the  admirable  Requiem  of  Mozart.  It  is  a 
remarkable  fact  that  the  pathetic  movement  of  the  third 
verse  of  this  anthem,  "  When  the  ear  heard  her,"  is 
(according  to  Mr.  Lacy)  that  of  the  gavot  in  the  second 
overture  of  Pastor  Fldo^  easily  recognizable  when  played 
quickly.  Without  paying  attention,  it  is  scarcely  credi- 
ble how  completely  the  simple  change  of  time  may  alter 
*  Page  913. 


FUNERAL     ANTHEM.  215 

entirely  tlie  character  of  an  air.  The  moving  cavatina 
in  T««c'r(3<r^/,  "Di  tanti  palpiti,"  is  nothing  but  an  old 
French  tune  with  a  slackened  movement. 

All  that  Hawkins  says  upon  the  subject  of  the  Funeral 
Anthem  is  perfectly  exact.  The  ceremony  took  place  on 
the  IVth  of  December:* — "  Satui'day  se'nnight"  after 
Wednesday  the  Vth,  brings  us  clearly  to  the  17th.  The 
MS.  having  been  delivered  on  the  12th,  it  appears  that 
live  days  only  were  required  for  copying,  rehearsing,  and 
performing  this  work.  From  this,  it  is  evident  tliat  En- 
gland possessed,  as  early  as  1737,  very  large  resources 
for  musical  execution  ;  for  this  anthem  was  executed  by 
not  less  than  one  hundred  and  eighty  performers. 
•  The  DailyPost^  in  giving  an  account  of  the  artistic  - 
part  of  the  funeral  ceremony,  which  it  did  not  usually 
do,  says : — "  The  fine  anthem  of  Mr.  Handel's  was  per- 
formed about  nine  ;  the  vocal  parts  were  performed  by 
the  several  choirs  of  the  Chapel  Royal,  Westminster 
Abbey,  St.  Paul,  and  Windsor,  and  the  boys  of  the 
Chapel  Royal  and  Westminster  Abbey ;  and  several 
musical  gentlemen  of  distinction  attended  in  surplices, 
and  sung  in  the  burial  service.  There  were  near  80  vocal 
performers  and  100  instrumental^  from  his  majesty's  band 
and  from  the  opera,  etc." 

George  the  Second  owed  a  splendid  funeral  to  his  wife, 
for  she  had  exhibited  toward  him,  to  the  time  of  her 
death,  the  most  angelic  indulgence  for  his  foibles.  Even 
at  that  supreme  moment,  the  morality  of  this  ruler  of  his 
people  manifested  itself  in  a  singularly  edifying  manner: 
— "  The  king,  overcome,  or  seemingly  overcome,  at  the 
idea  of  being  a  widower,  burst  into  a  flood  of  tears. 
The  queen  renewed  her  injunctions  that,  after  her  decease, 
he  should  take  a  second  wife.  He  sobbed  aloud ;  but, 
amid  his  sobbing,  lie  suggested  an  opinion,  that  he 
thouo:ht  that  rather  than  take  another  wife,  he  would 
maintain  a  mistress  or  two.  '  Eh,  mon  dieu,'  exclaimed 
*  Daily  Post. 


216  LIFE     OF     II  AN  DEL. 

Caroline,  *■  cela  n'^empcche  pas'*  (the  one  does  not  pre- 
vent the  other)."* 

The  theater  remained  for  some  time  closed  in  token 
of  the  general  grief  for  the  death  of  this  worthy  spouse. 
At  the  reopening,  in  January,  1738,  Farcmiondo  was 
given,  in  the  cast  of  which  are  to  be  found  Madame 
Dupare,f  commonly  called  la  Francescina,  and  the  famous 
Caftarelli.J:  It  was  only  represented  five  times ;  a  fact 
which  (says  Burney)  is  more  dishonorable  to  the  public 
than  to  the  composer.  The  partisans  of  the  composer 
appear  to  have  been  of  the  same  opinion  as  Burney,  for 
they  caused  Faramondo  to  be  engraved  by  subscription. 
The  Daily  Post  of  the  23d  of  January,  1738,  explains, 
in  the  rhapsodical  style  of  the  journals  of  the  period, 
how  this  was  managed  : 

"Tliis  day  are  published  proposals  for  printing  by 
subscription  the  opera  of  Faramondo  in  score,  as  it  is 
performed  at  the  King's  Theater  in  the  Haymarket,  com- 
posed by  Mr.  Handel. 

"  1.  The  work  will  be  printed  on  good  paper. 

"  2.  The  price  to  subscribers  half  a  guinea,  to  be  paid 
at  the  time  of  subscription. 

"  3.  The  whole  will  be  corrected  by  the  author. 

"  4.  Those  lovers  of  musick  who  are  willing  to  sub- 
scribe, are  desired  to  send  in  their  names  immediately, 

*  Imes  of  the  Queens  of  England  of  tlie  Rouse  of  Hanover,  vol.  i.,  p.  371. 

t  She  arrived  in  England  at  the  end  of  1736.  The  London  Dally  Post 
of  the  18th  of  November,  1736,  announces  that  "  Sga  Merighi,  Sga  Ohi- 
menti,  and  la  Francescina,  had  the  honor  to  sing  before  her  majesty,  tlie 
duke,  and  the  princesses,  at  Kensington,  on  Monday  night,  and  met 
with  a  most  gracious  reception.  After  which,  the  Francescina  performed 
several  dances  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  the  court." 

X  Gaetano  Majorano,  commonly  called  Caffarelli,  from  Caffaro,  his  first 
master.  Faramondo  was  the  part  in  which  that  celebrated  evirato  (who 
was  as  notorious  for  his  vanity  and  his  insolence  as  for  his  rare  talent) 
made  his  dehut  in  England.  Eventually  ho  purchased  a  Duchy,  and 
changed  his  name  to  that  of  Duca  di  Santi  Dorato,  which  descended  to 
his  nephew.  He  inscribed  upon  the  door  of  his  chateau,  Amphion 
Thehas,  Ego  Domum. 


REPEATED     FAILURES.  217 

the  work  being  in  such  forwardness,  that  it  will  be  ready- 
to  be  delivered  to  subscribers  by  the  4th  of  February 
next.  Subscriptions  are  taken  in  by  John  Walsh,  and 
by  most  musick  shops  in  town." 

The  edition  contains  a  list  of  seventy-five  subscribers ; 
among  them  are  the  names  of  Dr.  Pepusch,  and  of 
"  Master  Pepusch."  Pepusch,  who  was  a  Prussian,  was 
a  composer  of  more  learning  than  inspiration ;  he  had 
occupied  the  first  place  in  the  musical  world  of  England 
before  the  arrival  of  Handel,  and  would  have  been  more 
than  a  man  if  he  had  not  felt  some  resentment  at  losing 
it.  He  sided  a  little  with  the  enemies  of  his  conqueror ; 
but  at  bottom  he  loved  music  too  well  not  to  admire 
Handel,  and  although  he  called  him  "  an  old  bear,"  he 
manifested  a  delicate  consideration  for  him,  by  making 
even  his  son  to  subscribe  to  the  old  bear's  work. 

As  some  reparation  for  the  flxilure  of  Faramondo^ 
Handel  hastily  drew  out  of  his  own  works  the  pasticcio 
oi  Alexander  Severus^  which  was  represented  on  the  25th 
of  February,  and  whose  fate  was  not  more  fortunate 
than  that  of  the  first  king  of  the  Franks.  He  then  gave 
Xerxes  on  the  15th  of  April,  1738,  which  he  had  com- 
menced on  the  26th  of  December  preceding,  two  days 
after  he  had  completed  Faramondo. 

With  what  ardor  this  impassioned  man  regained  lost 
time,  even  while  sufiering  from  a  cruel  malady  !  Yain 
efforts  !  Xerxes  also  was  abandoned  at  the  fifth  repre- 
sentation. It  is  remarkable  for  having  four  little  cho- 
ruses, an  unusual  number  at  that  time,  and  there  is 
a  facetious  servant  in  the  plot,  whose  music,  says  Bur- 
ney,  "  is  of  a  very  comical  cast."  But  in  spite  of  this 
comicality,  the  erasures  with  which  the  MS.  is  covered 
bear  witness  to  the  agitations  which  tormented  the  mind 
of  the  composer.  At  that  very  time  Del  Po,  the  vin- 
dictive husband  of  Sg*.  Strada,  threatened  to  arrest  him 
for  debt.* 

♦  Burney,  p.  426. 
10 


218  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

But,  in  the  moan  time,  let  it  be  mentioned  at  once,  in 
order  not  to  afflict  the  sympathetic  reader  too  deeply, 
that  he  was  not  without  consolation.  When  he  was 
entirely  ruined,  his  friends  persuaded  him,  at  the  very 
height  of  the  crisis,  to  invoke  the  gratitude  of  the  public 
by  giving  concerts  for  his  own  benefit.  This  he  deter- 
mined to  do,  and  the  London  Daily  Post  announced  : — 
"On  Tuesday,  March  28,  1738,  for  the  benefit  of  Mr.  Han- 
del, will  be  performed  An  Oratokio,  with  a  concerto  on 
the  organ.  Tickets  half  a  guinea;  gallery,  five  shillings. 
To  begin  at  6.  N,  B. — For  the  better  convenience, 
there  will  be  benches  on  the  stage."  As  it  was  known 
that  his  misfortunes  were  unmerited,  and  as  his  courage 
and  character  were  in  high  esteem,  the  appeal  of  the 
great  artist  was  not  made  in  vain.  The  theater  was 
crowded  to  such  a  degree  that  the  net  receipts  did  not 
amount  to  less  than  £800/''  Mainwaring  raises  the  sum 
to  £l500,f  but  this  seems  like  an  exaggeration.  Mr, 
Ayrton  has  a  handbook  of  that  concert,  which  is  entitled 
Aoi  Oratorio.  It  is  simply  a  concert  of  sacred  and  sec- 
ular music,  English  and  Italian,  the  pieces  chosen  being 
without  any  relation  to  each  other.  I  do  not  understand 
why  Handel  called  it  an  oratorio  ;  for  with  equal  reason 
all  concerts  might  be  so  called. 

A  month  afterward,  an  honor  altogether  exceptional 
was  paid  to  him.  There  was  at  that  time,  as  there  is 
now,  a  pubhc  garden,  called  Yauxhall  Gardens,  where 
singing  entertainments  were  given.  It  is  by  no  means  a 
modern  fashion  with  the  English,  to  listen  to  music  while 
they  are  walking  about,  eating  and  drinking,  and  talk- 
ing with  the  ladies  who  frequent  such  places.  The  or- 
chestra was  complete,  being  even  provided  with  an 
organ.  Not  only  the  secular  compositions  of  Handel 
were  performed  there,  but,  unsuited  as  they  must  have 
been  to  such  places,  even  his  sacred  works  also.  The 
London  Dally  Post  informs  us  that,  on  the  19th  of 
*  Barney,  p.  426.  t  Page  125. 


ANECDOTE  OF  FOUNT  AYNE.        219 

Angnst,  IVns,  "  tbo  oiitertainment  at  Vauxliall  Gardens 
concluded  with  tlie  Coronation  Anthems  of  Mr.  Handel, 
to  the  great  pleasure  of  the  company,  and  amidst  a  great 
concourse  of  people."  I  have  in  my  possession  the  cele- 
brated air  in  Samson^  "  Let  the  bright  seraphiras,"  pub- 
lished as  "  a  favorite  song  set  by  Mr.  Handel,  sung  by 
Mrs.  Vincent  at  Yauxhall  and  Marybone."  Marybone, 
or  Marylebone,  was  another  garden  of  the  same  kind. 
Although  the  engravings  o*f  the  period  represent  the 
ladies  and  gentlemen,  who  are  walking  about,  as  at- 
tending to  any  thing  but  seraphic  thoughts,  it  appears 
that  the  music  of  Handel  contributed  to  attract  them 
hither..  It  is  even  certain  that  he  wrote  some  compo- 
sitions expressly  for  the  frequenters  of  these  gardens. 
Among  his  MSS.  there  is  a  Hornpipe^  "  composed  for 
the  concert  at  Vauxhall,  1740."* 

Jonathan  Tycrs,  the  proprietor  of  Vauxhall  Gardens, 
having  gained  a  great  deal  of  money,  resolved  to  erect 
a  statue  to  that  noble  composer,  whose  works  had  con- 
tributed to  his  fortune.     On  the  18th  of  April,  1738,  the 

*  The  grandson  of  the  Eev.  J.  Fountayne,  in  a  letter  inserted  in  the 
History  of  the  Parish  of  Marylebone  [by  Smith,  8vo,  18S3],  says  : — "  My 
grandfather,  as  I  have  been  told,  was  an  enthusiast  in  music,  and  culti- 
vated most  of  all  the  friendship  of  musical  men,  especially  of  Handel, 
■vvho  visited  him  often,  and  had  a  great  predilection  for  his  society.  This 
leads  me  to  relate  an  anecdote,  which  I  have  on  the  best  authority. 
While  Marylebone  Gardens  were  flourishing,  the  enchanting  music  of 
Handel,  and  probably  of  Arne,  was  often  heard  from  the  orchestra  there. 
One  evening,  as  my  grandfather  and  Handel  were  walking  together  and 
alone,  a  new  piece  was  struck  up  by  the  band.  '  Come,  Mr.  Fountayne,' 
said  Handel, '  let  us  sit  down  and  listen  to  this  piece ;  I  want  to  know  your 
opinion  of  it.'  Down  they  sat ;  and  after  some  time  the  old  parson,  turn- 
ing to  his  oompanion,  said,  '  It  is  not  worth  listening  to — it's  very  poor 
stuff.'  '  You  are  right,  Mr.  Fountayne,'  said  Handel, '  it  is  very  poor  stuff; 
I  thought  so  myself  when  I  had  finished  it.'  The  old  gentleman  being 
taken  by  surprise,  was  beginning  to  apologize  ;  but  Handel  assured  him 
that  there  was  no  necessity,  that  the  music  was  really  bad,  having  been 
composed  hastily,  and  his  time  for  the  production  limited  ;  and  that  the 
opinion  given  was  as  correct  as  it  was  honest."  The  more  wc  penetrate 
into  the  life  of  Handel,  the  more  we  perceive  that  he  was  not  easily 
satisfied  with  himself. 


220  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

Daily  Post  announced  : — "  We  are  informed,  from  very 
good  authority,  that  there  is  now  near  finished  a  statue 
of  the  justly  celebrated  Mr.  Handel,  exquisitely  done  by 
the  ingenious  Mr.  Raubillac,*  of  St.  Martin's  Lane,  statu- 
ary, out  of  one  entire  block  of  white  marble,  which  is  to 
be  placed  in  a  grand  nich^  erected  on  purpose  in  the 
great  grove  at  Vauxhall  Gardens,  at  the  sole  expense  of 
Mr.  Tyers,  undertaker  of  the  entertainment  there ;  who, 
in  consideration  of  the  real  merit  of  that  inimitable  mas- 
ter, thought  it  proper  that  his  effigies  should  preside 
there,  where  his  harmony  has  so  often  charmed  even  the 
greatest  crowds  into  the  profoundest  calm,  and  most  de- 
cent behavior.  It  is  believed  that  the  expense  of  the 
statue  and  nich  can  not  cost  less  than  three  hundred 
pounds." 

On  the  same  subject  we  also  learn,  from  the  Daily 
Post  of  the  2d  of  May,  1738:— "Last  night  Vauxhall 
was  opened,  and  there  was  a  considerable  appearance  of 
persons  of  both  sexes;  the  several  pieces  of  music  played 
on  that  occasion  had  never  been  heard  before  in  the  gar- 
dens ;  the  company  expressed  great  satisfaction  at  the 
marble  statue  of  Mr.  Handel."f 

*  Eoubiiac  (uot  Kaubillac)  was  then  only  a  student:  tliis  statue  was 
his  first  work,  which  explains  why  it  cost  so  little.  He  was  recommended 
to  Tyers  by  Cheer,  in  whose  studio  he  worked.  He  arrived  in  England 
from  his  native  city,  Lyons,  as  an  ornamental  stone-cutter.  One  evening 
he  chanced  to  find  a  purse  full  of  gold,  which  belonged,  he  discovered, 
to  Edward  Walpole,  to  whom  he  restored  it.  Walpole  was  touched  by 
this  proof  of  honesty ;  and,  having  learned  his  intentions,  caused  him 
to  enter  Cheer's  studio,  and  never  ceased  to  patronise  him. 

+  This  statue,  for  which  the  original  sat,  has  now  become  the  property 
of  the  Sacred  Harmonic  Society,  and  stands  in  their  offices  at  Exeter 
Hall.  The  musician,  clothed  in  a  long  robe,  is  seated  with  his  legs 
crossed,  and  is  playing  upon  a  lyre.  At  his  feet  reclines  a  little  Genius, 
who  is  writing  down  what  he  sings  upon  a  leaf  which  is  lying  upon  the 
back  of  a  violin.  The  composition  is  heavy  and  affected  ;  the  head  is  too 
small,  and  the  body  too  short.  In  fact,  the  statue  appears  to  me  to  be 
not  worthy  of  the  great  talent  of  its  author.  It  gave  rise  to  an  inunda- 
tion of  acrostics,  quatrains,  and  poetical  compositions  of  all  kinds  (most 
of  them  full  of  Orpheuses),  of  which  there  are  not  less  than  five  in  the 


HIS    PORTRAIT    PUBLISHED.  221 

In  all  the  history  of  the  fine  arts,  this  is,  I  believe,  the 
only  instance  known  of  a  statue  being  erected  hi  honor 
of  an  artist  during  his  lifetime.  Human  folly  reserves 
exclusively  that  kind  of  glory  for  generals  and  kings ; 
but  it  must  be  confessed,  to  the  praise  of  Great  Britain 
and  to  the  honor  of  its  intelligence,  that  the  finest  minds 
of  the  age,  Pope,  Fielding,  Hogarth,  Smollett,  Gay,  Ar- 
buthnot,  Hughes,  Colley  Gibber,  etc.,  never  for  a  moment 
misunderstood  the  great  man  ;  but  all  loudly  manifested 
their  admiration  for  him,  and  were  not  afraid  to  range 
themselves  upon  his  side.  His  partisans  were  not  to  be 
daunted  by  any  thing ;  they  recoiled  neither  before  the 
blind  hatred  of  the  nobility,  nor  from  the  failure  of  his 
theater,  nor  the  fall  of  his  later  operas.  They  had  pro- 
tested against  the  judgment  of  the  public  by  causing 

London  Magazine  for  May,  1738,  and  of  wLich  the  only  passable  one  is  as 
follows : 

*'  Drawn  by  the  flime  of  these  embowered  retreats, 
Orpheus  is  come  from  the  Elysian  seats  ; 
Lost  to  the  admiring  world  three  thousand  years, 
Beneath  loved  Handel's  form  he  reappears. 
Sweetly  this  miracle  attracts  the  eye  ; 
But  hark  !  for  o'er  the  lyre  his  fingers  fly." — Lockman. 

The  same  author  made  also  a  qixatrain  upon  the  sculptor: 

"  That  Orpheus  moved  a  rock,  a  grove,  a  stream, 
By  music's  power,  will  not  a  fiction  seem  ; 
For  here  as  great  a  miracle  is  shown — 
Famed  Handel  breathing,  though  transformed  to  stone." 

At  the  same  time  that  Handel  was  receiving  this  public  tribute,  he  re- 
ceived also  a  private  one.  The  London  Gazette  of  the  2d  of  March,  1738, 
contains  the  following  announcement: — "  Whereas  a  print  of  the  author 
Mr.  Handel  is  now  engraving  by  an  eminent  hand,  and  is  very  near 
finished,  tliose  noblemen,  gentlemen,  and  ladies  who  have  done  the  au- 
thor the  honor  of  subscribing,  may  be  assured,  as  soon  as  it  is  finished, 
it  shall  be  sent  to  their  houses  by  John  Walsh,  the  undertaker  of  that 
work  for  the  author."  It  would  be  interesting  to  know  what  this  print 
was.  Being  published  under  Handel's  sanction,  it  may  be  presumed 
that  it  was  a  good  likeness.  Unfortunately,  among  the  fifty-six  engraved 
and  lithographed  portraits  of  him  which  I  have  collected,  I  can  not  find 
any  belonging  to  1738,  or  any  thing  near  that  date. 


222  LIFE    OF     HANDEL. 

Faramondo^  Arminio^  and  Atalanta  to  be  engraved  by 
subscription  in  spite  of  their  failure.  And  it  also  de- 
serves to  be  remarked,  that  how  strong  soever  was  the 
party  which  opposed  him,  his  operas  were  all  of  them 
published,  and  frequently  by  three  publishers  at  once  ;* 
while  the  greater  part  of  those  of  his  rivals  remained  in 
manuscript,  or  were  only  j^ubhshed  in  the  form  of  se- 
lected airs. 

Among  the  number  of  Handel's  faithfid  admirers,  it  is 
only  just  to  include  George  II.  This  king,  who  detested 
his  father  as  much  as  he  hated  his  son,  was  nevertheless 
fond  of  music.  We  read  in  the  London  Daily  Post  of 
the  4th  of  November,  1734,  that  "his  majesty  was  gra- 
ciously pleased  to  subscribe  £1000  toward  carrying  on 
the  operas  this  season  at  Covent  Garden."  His  majesty 
attended  regularly  all  the  oratorios,  which  were  deserted 
by  the  whole  court,  and  even  often  by  the  town.  Bar- 
ney relates  a  witty  saying  of  Lord  Chesterfield  upon  this 
point : — "  What,  my  lord,"  said  some  one  to  him,  as  he 
was  coming  out  of  Covent  Garden  one  evening  in  the 
middle  of  the  performance,  "  is  there  not  an  oratorio  ?" 
"  Yes,"  replied  he,  "  they  are  now  performing ;  but  I 
thought  it  best  to  retire,  lest  I  should  disturb  the  king 
in  his  privacies."  Handel  gave  lessons  to  all  the  children 
of  the  royal  family.  The  Princess  Anne,  wdio  married- 
the  Prince  of  Orange,  was  particularly  attached  to  him, 
and  took  his  part  against  "the  barons."  One  of  her  last 
thoughts  on  leaving  England  Avas  to  recommend  him  to 
Lord  Harvey,  the  favorite  of  the  queen.f  Frederic 
Prince  of  Wales,  the  son  of  George  IL,  and  George  III., 
the  son  of  Frederic,  inherited  the  good  musical  taste  of 
their  ancestor.     The  predisposition  of  the  child,  who  af- 

*  I  have  Scipio  and  Alexander  by  "Walsh,  by  Cluer,  and  by  Meares. 
As  has  been  already  explained,  Walsh  pirated,  from  Julius  Ccusar  in  1723, 
to  Lotltario^  1729,  all  the  operas  by  Handel,  of  whom  Cluer  was,  at  that^ 
time,  the  only  legitimate  publisher. 

t  Lives  of  the  Queens  of  the  House  of  Hanover. 


GEOKGE    THE    THIRD.  223 

terward  became  George  III.,  is  thus  related  by  Soutliey : 
"Ilandel  asked  the  king,  then  a  young  child,  and  listen- 
ing very  earnestly  while  he  played,  if  he  liked  the  music, 
and  the  prince  warmly  expressed  his  pleasure.  '  A  good 
boy,  a  good  boy  !'  he  cried,  '  you  shall  protect  my  fame 
when  I  am  dead  !"^^ 

Burncy  tells  the  story  in  another  way.  He  relates 
that  Handel,  struck  with  the  attention  which  the  child 
manifested  at  the  concerts  which  he  conducted  at  Carle- 
ton  House  (the  mansion  of  his  father),  said  one  day, 
"  You  will  see  that  this  young  prince  will  keep  up  my 
music  after  I  am  gone."  And  he  was  not  deceived. 
Burney  states  that  he  received  from  George  HI.  some 
excellent  notes  on  the  works  of  Handel.  It  is  to  this 
king,  above  all,  that  we  are  indebted  for  Arnold's  edition, 
which  he  encouraged  with  his  purse,  and  which  was  in- 
terrupted ^^'hen  his  wandering  reason  rendered  him  indif- 
ferent to  such  matters.  It  sliould  be  inscribed  as  a  title 
of  honor  in  the  chronicles  of  the  EngUsh  family  of  Bruns- 
wick, that  they  were  all  determined  Handelians. 

Heidegger,  having  got  nothing  with  which  to  repair 
the  failures  of  Pliaramond  and  Xerxes^  found  his  specu- 
lation becoming  worse  and  worse.  The  closing  of  the 
theater  at  the  death  of  Queen  Caroline  had*  done  him 
harm.  On  the  15th  of  April,  1738,  in  announcing,  through 
the  medium  of  the  London  Daily  Post^  the  first  repre- 
sentation of  Xerxes^  he  was  compelled  to  add  : — "  N.  B. 
Having  been  impossible  to  perform  the  whole  number 
of  operas  this  season,  each  subscriber  may  have  a  ticket 
extraordinary  delivered  to  him  each  night  the  opera  is 
performed,  upon  sending  his  silver  ticket  to  the  otHce." 

This  ill-starred  season  finished  on  the  6th  of  June, 
1738.  Heidegger  attempted  to  reopen,  and  advertised 
through  the  journals  that  he  was  ready  to  get  together 
a  new  company,  if  he  could  obtain  two  hundred  subscrib- 
ers of  twenty  guineas  each,  "which  would  put  him  in  a 
*  Southey's  Commonplace  Book. 


224  LIFE    OF    HANDEL. 

position  to  respond  to  the  demands  of  the  singers."  The 
London  Daily  Post^  for  tlie  2Gth  of  Jnly,  reports  the 
result  of  this  proposition:  —  "Haymarket,  July  15th, 
1738. — Whereas,  the  operas  for  the  ensuing  season,  at 
the  King's  Theater,  in  the  Haymarket,  can  not  be  car- 
ried on  as  \vas  intended,  by  reason  of  the  subscription 
not  being  full,  and  that  I  could  not  agree  with  the  sing- 
ers, though  I  offered  One  Thousand  Guineas  to  07ie  of 
them  :  I,  therefore,  think  myself  obliged  to  declare,  that 
I  give  up  the  undertaking  for  the  next  year.  I  take  this 
opprtunity  to  return  my  humble  thanks  to  all  persons 
who,"  etc.  J.  J.  Heidegger,  the  impressario  of  1738, 
regarded  one  thousand  guineas  as  a  sum  to  be  repre- 
sented only  in  capital  letters ;  but  nobody  was  tempted 
to  step  into  the  place  of  so  magnificent  a  man,  and  the 
Italian  operas  were  heard  of  no  more  until  1740. 

During  this  interregnum,  Handel  published  the  first 
six  Organ  Concertos^  op.  4^,  in  order  to  rescue  them 
from  piracy.  The  London  Daily  Dost  of  the  23d  of 
September,  1738,  contains  the  following  advertisement: 
"7b  all  Lovers  of  Music: — Whereas,  there  are  six  con- 
certos for  the  organ,  by  Mr.  Handel,  published  this  day, 
some  of  which  have  been  already  printed  by  Mr.  Walsh, 
and  the  others  done  without  the  knowledge  or  consent 
of  Mr.  Handel ;  this  is  to  give  notice,  that  the  same  six 
are  printing  and  will  be  published  in  a  few  days,  cor- 
rected by  the  author. — J.  Walsh." 

Walsh  repeated  this  advertisement  on  the  26th  of 
September,  and  on  the  4th  of  October  announced  the 
work,  with  this  note,  which  may  also  be  found  in  the 
edition  : — "  These  six  concertos  ^vere  published  by  Mr. 
Walsh  from  my  own  copy,  corrected  by  myself,  and  to 
him  only  I  have  given  my  right  therein. — Geoege  Fred- 
eric Handel." 

Handel,  although  he  had  the  exclusive  right  to  pub- 
lish his  own  works,  appears  not  to  have  wished  to  exer- 
cise it  hei-e.     He  contines  himself  merely  to  putting  tlie 


ORGAN    CONCERTOS.  225 

pul)lic  oil  tlieir  ouard  against  piracies.     He  was  always 
a  man  of  lofty  manners,  and  very  liberal. 

Walsh  engi-aved  twenty  organ  concertos,  and  Ai-nold 
three  others,  which  were  then  unpublished.*  Out  of  the 
tweuty-three,  seventeen  are  with  accompaniments  for  six 
instruments.  The  composition  of  the  first  dates  as  far 
back  as  1733.  According  to  Hawkins,  "  in  the  following 
year  (1733)  he  performed  Esther^  and  also  Deborah^  in 
the  Lent  season  at  Covent  Garden  Theater.  Upon  this 
occasion  he  also  gratified  the  public  with  a  species  of 
music  of  which  he  may  be  said  to  be  the  inventor,  name- 
ly, the  organ  concerto.  Few  but  his  intimate  friends 
were  sensible  that  on  this  instrument  he  had  scarce  his 
equal  in  the  world."  Burney  seems  to  wish  to  contra- 
dict Hawkins: — "Thus  far  [3Iarch,  1736]  no  organ  con- 
certo is  mentioned,  but  April  7th  and  14th,  when  the 
oratorio  of  Esther  was  performed,  Handel  played  two 
each  night."  I  doubt  whether  Handel  waited  until  1736 
to  play  upon  the  organ  in  public.  He  certainly  was 
aware  of  his  great  talent  as  an  organist,  and  ajDart  even 
from  his  natural  desire  to  exhibit  it,  the  bad  state  of  his 
affairs  in  1733  should  have  induced  him  to  use  this  means 
of  attracting  the  public  to  liis  oratorios.  It  is  moreover 
certain,  and  so  recognized  by  Burney,  that  he  played 
upon  the  organ  in  1733,  at  Oxford,  where  he  produced 
his  Athalia.  Besides  this,  the  fourth  concerto  of  the 
first  series  is  signed  on  the  24th  of  March,  1735.  It  is, 
nevertheless,  possible  that  this  concerto  was  performed 
only  in  1736,  for  his  Minuet  was  for  a  long  time  called 
the  Minuet  of  Esther^  because  of  a  tradition  that  Han- 
del always  gave  it  with  Esther.  But  whether  he  com- 
menced in  1733  or  in  1736,  he  continued  to  play  "  con- 
certos upon  the  organ  at  every  performance  of  an  orato- 
rio to  the  end  of  his  life.  He  generally  gave  them  at 
the  beginning  of  an  act,  but  sometimes  he  introduced 
them  even  in  the  middle  of  the  performance.  In  several 
*  *  See  "  Catalogue"  for  1738,  '41,  '60,  '61,  and  '97. 

10* 


226  LIFE    OP    HANDEL. 

of  his  MSS.  may  be  found,  written  witli  pencil,  after  an 
air  or  a  cliorus,  *'  Segue  il  concerto  per  I'organo"  ("  Here 
the  concerto  on  the  organ").  Among  other  examples  of 
this,  I  find  it  in  the  MS.  oi  Alexander's  Feast,  after  "  Let 
old  Timotheus."  He  was  a  great  improviser,  and  these 
written  compositions  were  only  of  service  to  him  when 
he  felt  that  he  was  not  in  the  vein ;  otherwise,  he  gave 
himself  up  to  the  inspiration  of  his  inexhaustible  genius. 
Burney  relates  that  he  was  very  fond  of  the  movement 
in  the  chorus  of  The  3Iessiah,  "He  trusted  in  God," 
and  that  he  frequently  took  it  as  the  theme  for  an  extem- 
pore. 

Having  no  longer  any  thing  to  do  for  the  Italian 
Opera,  Handel  undertook  the  oratorio  of  jSaul  on  the  3d 
of  July,  1738,  and  finished  it  on  the  27th  of  September; 
four  days  afterward,  on  the  1st  of  October,  he  commenced 
Israel  in  Egypt^  and  finished  it  in  twenty-seven  days ! 
Even  when  he  had  plenty  of  time  before  him,  Handel 
always  worked  with  fabulous  rapidity. 

In  January,  1739,  he  took  the  unoccupied  theater  in  the 
Haymarket,  "  for  the  performance  of  oratorios,  twice  a 
week."*  This  was  the  commencement  of  those  series 
of  twelve  performances  of  oratorios,  wdiich  he  hence- 
forth gave  annually  during  Lent.  Th.Q  IjOiidon  Daily  Post 
of. Friday,  the  3d  of  January,  I739,t  says: — "We  hear 
that,  on  Tuesday  se'ennight,  the  King's  Theater  will  be 
opened  with  a  new  oratorio,  composed  by  Mr.  Handel, 
called  Said.     The  pit  and  boxes  will  be  put  together. 

*  Malcolm. 

t  The  London  Daily  Post,  wliicla  gives  this  advertisement,  is  dated 
1738,  according  to  the  old  style,  which  answers  to  1739,  new  style. 
Burney,  forgetting  the  difference  between  the  old  and  new  styles,  says 
(p.  418),  that  '•'■Saul  was  advertised  on  the  3d  of  January,  1738,  but  was 
not  performed  till  the  next  year,  though  this  proves  it  to  have  been  now 
in  meditation."  It  is  rare  to  find  a  mistake  in  Burney,  and  I  only  point 
it  out  in  order  that  his  readers  and  mine,  trusting  to  his  habitual  exact- 
ness, may  not  be  misled.  Saul,  which  was  composed  between  July  and 
September,  1738,  new  style,  was  really  only  advertised  in  Jauuaiy,  1738, 
old  style,  that  is  to  say,  1739,  new  style. 


"SAUL."  227 

Tlie  tickets  delivered  on  Monday  the  15t]i,  and  Tuesday 
16th  (the  day  of  performance),  at  half  a  guinea  each. 
Gallery,  5s.  The  gallery  will  be  opened  at  4 ;  the  pit 
and  boxes  at  5.     To  begin  at  6  o'clock."* 

The  iirst  performance  of  aSV«^/ took  place  on  the  IGth 
of  Jannary,  and,  on  the  22d,  the  second  was  atmounced 
for  the  following  day,  "  with  several  new  concertos  on 
the  organ."  Several  new^  concertos  in  one  day  are  very 
much.  Saul  is  a  work  filled  with  surprising  beauties.  I 
have  had  the  good  fortune  to  hear  it  once  at  the  summer 
performances  w^hich  Mr.  Surman,  the  conductor  for  the 
London  Sacred  Harmonic  Society,  gives  at  Exeter  Hall. 
The  overture  is  charming,  and  it  is  not  astonishing  that 
the  introduction  to  such  a  subject  as  Saul  demands  this 
special  praise.  The  overtures  of  the  period  had  not  be- 
come, as  it  w^ere,  the  vestibule  of  the  temple  ;  they  were 
purely  and  simply  pieces  of  s}^mphony,  without  any 
relation  to  the  poem.  All  the  overtures  of  the  eight- 
eenth century,  until  Haydn,  might  be  changed  from  one 
opera  to  another,  or  from  one  oratorio  to  another,  without 
any  harm ;  but  this  defect  excepted,  that  of  Saul  will 
always  be  admired  for  its  grace  and  its  extreme  delicacy. 
The  whole  part  of  David  is  superb.  That  of  Jonathan, 
who  loves  David  with  fraternal  tenderness,  is  as  touch- 
ing in  the  score  as  in  the  poem.  His  air,  "  Sin  not,  O 
King,"  is  particularly  simple,  sweet,  and  pleasant.  The 
scene  between  the  King  and  the  Witch  of  Eudor  is  a 
marvel  of  invention.     The   chorus  a  carillons^  "  Wel- 

*  Performances  in  1739  : 

January  16th  and  23d — Saul. 

February  3d  and  10th — Saul. 

February  17th  and  24th — Alexander's  Feast. 

March  3d— /Z  Trionfo  del  Tempo. 

March  20th  —Alexander's  Feast.  For  the  benefit  of  the  musicians,  with 
several  concertos  on  the  organ,  and  other  instruments,  particularly  a  new 
one  composed  by  Mr.  Handel  on  purpose  for  this  occasion. 

March  2lx\\—Saul. 

April  4th,  11th,  l7th — Israel  in  Egypt. 

April  Yn\i—Saul. 


228  LIFE     OF     II  AX  BEL. 

come,  welcome,  mighty  King,"  has  a  vigor  and  a  youth 
which  will  never  be  exhausted.  As  for  the  Dead  March, 
no  one  is  unacquainted  with  it.  It  is  one  of  the  master- 
pieces of  musical  art.  Nothing  has  a  more  solemn  effect 
than  the  orchestral  rollings,  interrupted  by  the  grave 
accents  of  trumpets  and  trombones,*  which  recall  the 
memory  of  the  warrior,  and  by  the  lamentations  of  the 
hautboys,  which  pierce,  from  time  to  time,  like  flashes 
of  despair.  Mr.  Lacy  has  pointed  out  to  me,  as  a  fact 
to  be  noted,  that,  in  contradiction  to  all  other  musicians, 
who  use  the  minor  tone  to  give  sombreness  to  their  com- 
positions of  this  kind,  Handel  has  boldly  made  use  of  the 
major  key  in  all  his. 

On  the  original  MS.  of  Saul,  after  the  recitative,  "  Im- 
pious wretch,"  all  the  words  of  the  F'tmeral  Anthe^n  are 
copied,  under  the  title  of  "  Elegy  on  the  Death  of  Saul 
and  Jonathan  (in  the  last  funeral  anthem) — The  Sinfonia." 
At  the  end  of  the  verse  in  the  anthem,  "Ways  of  Zion," 
Handel  wrote,  "  Poi  segue  qul^  ace.  recit.  in  D.  David 
— '  O  Jonathan,  thou  wast  slain  in  the  high  places,' 
Segiie — 'When  the  ear,'"  etc.  After  the  verse,  "He 
delivered,"  Handel  wrote,  "  Pol  segue,  Recitative — '  Saul 
and  Jonathan  were  lovely  and  pleasant,'  etc.  Poi  segue 
— 'Their  bodies  are  buried,'  etc.  Poi  segue.  High 
Priest. — '  Ye  men  of  Judah.'  " 

The  author  intended,  therefore,  to  introduce  into  Saul 
the  Funeral  Anthem  which  had  been  given  a  year  pre- 
viously at  the  burial  service  of  Queen  Caroline,  but  he 
renounced  the  idea  ;  for  all  this  is  crossed  out,  over  and 
over  again,  with  ink.  Doubtless,  he  thought  that  the 
words  were  not  precisely  in  their  place ;  for  now  that 
Saul  is  dead,  we  may  confess  that  he  was  any  thing  but 
"  lovely  and  pleasant."  He  was  obliged  to  content  him- 
self with  a  little  symphonic  piece,  written  after  the 
March,  for  his  Elegy.     It  will  be  seen,  that  the  idea  of 

*  The  score  contains,  besides  other  instruments,  parts  written  for 
*'  trombona  !«  ;  2'^"  ;  3'*  ;  organo  e  cembalo.'" 


NEGLECTED    COMPOSITIONS.  229 

making  the  Funeral  Anthem  useful  was  realized  in 
Israel  in  Egypt. 

In  tl^  British  Museum  is  a  handbook  (small  quarto) 
of — "  &aul^  an  oratorio  or  sacred  drama,  set  to  music  by 
Mr.  Handel,  and  performed  by  the  Academy  of  Ancient 
Music,  on  Thursday,  April  24th,  1740.  London,  printed 
in  the  year  1740.  N.B.  All  the  lines  marked  with  an 
astei-isk  *  before  them  are  left  out  in  the  performance." 
Seven  pieces  are  mai'ked  with  the  proscribing  asterisk. 

Thus,  a  year  after  its  first  representation,  this  oratorio 
was  performed  by  a  society  Avhose  performances  were 
not  gratuitous.  The  music  had  been  engraved  in  1739 
by  Walsh,  but,  in  his  usual  manner,  without  choruses  or 
recitatives.  Handel  must,  therefore,  have  benevolently 
given  a  copy  of  his  score. 

How  is  it  that  Saul  does  not  form  part  of  the  current 
repertoire  in  England?  It  is  a  just  reproach  to  the  ex- 
cellent and  useful  musical  societies  in  this  country,  that 
they  limit  themselves  to  such  a  restricted  number  of 
compositions.''' 

*  "Wlieu  Mr.  Benedict  directed  the  Harmonic  Union,  he  twice  gave 
Alexander'^s  Feast  with  Mozart's  accompaniment,  which  he  brought  from 
BerUn,  where  they  still  remain  unpublished.  That  work  has  never  been 
repeated.  During  four  years  the  Dettingen  Te  Deum,  two  of  the  Corona- 
tion AntJiems,  and  Deiorah  have  only  been  produced  once,  and  that  by 
the  Sacred  Harmonic  Society  under  Mr.  Costa.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that 
such  esteemed  societies  sliould  be  continually  repeating  the  same  works, 
as  if  they  were  afraid  to  summon  their  audiences  to  untried  entertain- 
ments. The  committee  of  the  London  Sacred  Harmonic  Society  has  not 
failed  to  perceive  the  ill  eflects  of  this  ;  for,  in  its  report  for  1854,  it  an- 
nounced that  it  intended  to  revive  all  such  of  Handel's  compositions  as 
were  forgotten,  but  up  to  the  present  day  nothing  has  been  done  ;  they 
appear  to  fear  lest  the  elforts  made  in  that  direction  should  be  received 
with  indifference.  AVe  well  know  that  the  majority  is  ruled  by  custom  ; 
it  feels  a  certain  distrust  for  novelties  which  are  not  of  the  present  day, 
precisely  because  the  music  with  which  we  are  familiar  is  the  most  im- 
pressive, and  always  appears  to  us  to  be  the  finest.  Moreover,  there  arc 
certain  persons  who  have  a  natural  preference  for  trombone  quadrilles, 
and  the  "  musical  entertainments"  of  the  ventriloquists.  But  is  it  tlie 
duty  of  orchestral  conductors  to  form  the  education  of  the  public,  to  per- 
fect its  taste,  to  lead  it  to  a  thorough  comprehension  of  the  beautiful — in 


230  LIFE    OF    HANDEL. 

But  the  time  is  arrived  for  speaking  of  Israel  in 
Egypt — of  that  Colossus  of  music  composed  in  twenty- 
seven  days:  the  first  part,  from  tlie  1st  to  the  illth  of 
October,  1739  ;  and  the  second,  from  the  15th  of  Octo- 
ber to  the  1st  of  November !  The  notices  in  the  jour- 
nals which  make  mention  of  it  are  as  striking  as  the 
episodes  of  a  romance.  It  was  performed  on  the  4th  of 
April,  1739,  "  with  several  new  concertos  on  the  organ, 
and  particularly  a   new  one."*     On  the  day  following 

fine,  to  enlarge  the  limits  of  its  legitimate  admiration  ?  If  the  musical 
societies  included  within  their  repertoire  the  neglected  compositions  of 
Handel,  those  of  the  public  who  suffer  themselves  to  be  led  like  sheep, 
would  not  come  at  first ;  but  when  they  saw  that  good  judges  were  at- 
tracted, they  would  follow  their  example,  and  when  they  came  they 
would  listen  ;  and  when  beauties,  fully  equal  to  those  of  the  five  or  six 
oratorios  in  vogue,  began  to  appear,  those  who  only  admire  established 
reputations  would  follow  the  elect.  Many  people  have  been  persuaded 
into  the  belief  that  Mendelssohn's  Elijah  is  as  fine,  and  even  finer  than  The 
Messiiih  and  Israel.  We  have  no  special  grudge  against  Elijah.,  but,  now 
that  the  merits  of  this  recitative,  which  is  infinitely  too  long,  too  noisy, 
and  too  full  of  reminiscences,  are  thoroughly  established,  what  harm 
would  there  be  in  laying  it  aside  occasionally,  while  they  drew  from  ob- 
livion such  works  as  Saul  and  Joshua  (which  all  musicians  regard  as 
marvels  of  greatness),  if  only  to  make  us  acquainted  with  those  splendid 
Anthems  which  have  excited  so  much  admiration  whenever  they  have 
been  heard.  And  why  do  not  the  Philharmonic  Societies,  among  their 
detached  and  generally  well-chosen  7norceaux,  execute  some  of  the  cham- 
ber duos  and  cantatas  of  Handel  ?  By  thus  extending  the  domain  of  the 
master  of  masters,  they  would  add  constantly  to  his  glory.  Even  if  sac- 
rifices were  necessary  to  attain  that  end,  would  it  not  be  worth  them  ? 
The  Sacred  Harmonic  Society  stated,  in  its  report  for  1853,  that  it  had  in 
hand  £4000.  Did  not  that  put  it  within  the  power  of  that  Society  to  in- 
cur some  risk  in  restoring  forgotten  music  ?  Might  it  not  with  justice 
have  paid  to  Handel  a  little  of  what  it  owes  hiui  ? 

And  here  let  me  add,  that  grand  music  has  this  advantage  over  all 
the  other  productions  of  the  artistic  faculties  of  man,  that  people  are 
never  tired  of  it.  It  is  like  daily  bread,  an  aliment  always  new,  always 
wished  for.  The  oftener  you  hear  a  fine  score,  the  greater  pleasure  you 
take  in  hearing  it  again.  It  charms  you  in  proportion  as  you  have  fa- 
miliarized yourself  with  it.  Therefore  it  is  not  to  be  feared  that  people 
will  be  tired  of  listening  to  The  Messiah.,  to  Judas,  to  Israel,  and  to  Sam- 
son to  the  end  of  time;  and  when  I  urge  the  revival  of  the  neglected 
masterpieces  of  Handel,  it  is  less  for  the  purpose  of  t;a?*,?/m^  the  pleasures 
of  the  public  than  to  increase  the  sura  of  its  intellectual  enjoyments. 

*  London  Daily  Post. 


"ISRAEL    IN    EGYPT."  231 

(the  5t]i),  no  mention  is  made,  beyond  simply  announc- 
ing it  for  the  11th,  "with  alterations  and  additions,  and 
the  two  last  new  concertos  on  the  organ,  being  the  last 
time  of  performing  it."  What  must  have  been  its  recep- 
tion at  the  first  performance,  when  Handel  announced 
its  suppression  on  presenting  it  the  second  time  ?  On 
the  10th  appeared  a  new  announcement  for  the  11th, 
followed  by  these  words : — "  The  Oratorio  will  be  short- 
ened, and  intermixed  with  songs."  Strange  contradic- 
tion !  On  the  5th,  the  oratorio  w^ill  be  given  "  with 
additions,"  and  on  the  10th,  it  "  will  be  shortened  and 
intermixed  with  songs."  What  it  was  intended  to  ex- 
press on  the  10th,  doubtless,  was,  that  excisions  had  been 
made  in  order  to  make  room  for  the  soncjs  belonmnc:  to 
the  additions  which  had  been  mentioned  on  the  5th. 
Israel  is,  by  exception,  only  in  two  acts ;  and  being  al- 
ready too  short  to  occupy  an  entire  evening,  it  would  be 
difficult  to  understand  why  it  was  still  further  cut  down, 
if  we  did  not  know,  from  a  cotemporaneous  handbook, 
that  Handel  added  to  it  the  Funeral  Anthem^  in  the 
shape  of  a  first  part.  The  anthem  is  very  naturally  in- 
troduced as  "Lamentations  of  the  Israelites  for  the 
death  of  Joseph."  As  for  the  "  songs  intermixed,"  the 
examination  of  the  original  MS.  enables  me  to  state  that 
they  were  Italian  ballads.  The  following  notes  are  to  be 
found  written  with  pencil :  After  the  chorus,  "  But  his 
people,"  "iVb.  1,  Through  the  land,  /§''•«.  Frances:'  Af- 
ter the  chorus,  "  But  the  waters  overwhelmed,"  "  JSTo.  2, 
A7igeUco  splendor,  S.  Frances:"^  After  the  chorus  in  the 
second  act,  "Thy  right  hand,"  "iVo.  3,  Corfedele  ex  [in] 
G.,  Si(f.  Francescina.'''*  And,  finally,  after  the  duet, 
"Thou  in  Thy  mercy,"  "  iVo  4,  La  speranza  la  con- 
stanza,  S.  Frances y"^  It  is  impossible  to  doubt  that 
these  were  the  "  songs  intermixed." 

*  "  Through  the  land"  is  an  air  of  Esther.  "  Angclico  splendor"  and 
" Cor  fedele"  are  still  unedited.  (See  "Catalogue,"  1738.)  "La  spe- 
ranza la  coustanza"  seems  to  be  lost. 


232  LIFE    OP    HANDEL. 

One  word  of  cxplin.-ition  may  be  permitted.  The  Ex- 
odus (which  is  now  the  second  part  o^  Israel  in  Egypt) 
was  written  between  the  1st  and  the  11th  of  October. 
The  first  i)art  was  commenced  on  the  15th  of  October. 
If  we  consider  then  that  what  is  now  the  second  part  is 
not  called  an  Act  in  the  MS.,  we  are  tempted  to  beUeve 
that  the  author  had  originally  the  idea  of  composing 
the  "  Song  of  Moses"  only  for  his  own  satisfaction,  and 
without  any  premeditated  design — at  any  rate,  without 
any  determinate  end.  Perceiving  afterward  that  the  de- 
scription of  the  plagues  of  Egypt  would  be  a  fine  sub- 
ject to  treat,  and  would  make  a  beautiful  introduction, 
he  set  to  work  four  days  afterward  and  cast  the  whole 
into  an  oratorio.  This  hypothesis  supports  the  opinion 
which,  without  certitude,  attributes  the  choice  of  the 
words  to  Handel  himself,  and  it  goes  to  explain  why 
Israel  is  without  an  overture.  It  seems  to  be  still  more 
plausible,  Avhen  we  remember  that  the  work  was  only  in 
two  acts,  and  is  principally  composed  of  choruses,  of 
which  there  are  twenty-eight,  while  there  are  only  five 
airs  and  three  duets. 

But  when  it  came  to  be  performed,  such  a  mass  of 
choruses,  with  those  of  the  Funeral  A) dhem  added,  very 
likely  appeared  to  the  audience  of  the  time  rather  too 
heavy,  and  Handel  replaced  some  of  them  by  a  few  Ital- 
ian ballads.  The  advertisement,  that  the  oratorio  would 
be  shortened  and  songs  intermingled,  becomes  therefore 
perfectly  clear.  Handel  had  to  contend  against  the 
lightness  of  the  public  taste,  still  artistically  very  igno- 
rant. He  hoped  that  "  But  the  water,"  would  pass  un- 
der favor  of  "  Cor  fedele  spera  sempre  ;"  as  Moliere 
passed  off  the  JSIlsantkrope  under  fixvor  of  the  Fourher- 
ies  de  Scapin.  But  less  fortunate  than  the  Misaidhrope^ 
the  sublime  anthem  and  the  sublime  oratorio  could  not 
succeed,  even  with  the  extenuating  circumstances  of  the 
Italian  ballads. 

The  newspapers  remained  entirely  dumb  after  the  sec- 


EULOGY    OF    "ISRAEL."  233 

ond  performance,  on  the  11th  of  April.     Only,  on  the 
13th,  the  following  letter  was  inserted  : 

"  To  THE  Author  of  the  '  London  Daily  Post." 

*'  Sir — Upon  my  arrival  in  town  three  days  ago,  I  was 
not  a  little  surprised  to  find  that  Mr.  Handel's  last  ora- 
torio, Israel  in  JEgypt^  which  had  been  performed  but 
once,  was  advertised  to  be  for  the  last  time  on  Wednes- 
day. I  was  almost  tempted  to  think  that  his  genius  had 
failed  him  ;  but  must  own  myself  agreeably  disappomted. 
I  was  not  only  pleased,  but  also  affected  by  it ;  for  I 
never  yet  met  with  any  musical  performance  in  which 
the  Avords  and  sentiments  were  so  thoroughly  studied, 
and  so  clearly^mderstood  ;  and  as  the  words  are  taken 
from  the  Bible,  they  are  perhaps  some  of  the  most  sub- 
lime parts  of  it.  I  was  indeed  concerned  that  so  excel- 
lent a  work  of  so  great  a  genius  was  neglected  ;  for 
though  it  was  a  polite  and  attentive  audience,  it  was  not 
large  enough,  I  doubt,  to  encourage  him  in  any  future 
attempt.  As  I  should  be  extremely  sorry  to  be  deprived 
of  hearing  this  again,  and  found  many  of  the  auditors 
in  the  same  disposition,  yet,  being  afraid  Mr.  Handel 
will  not  undertake  it  without  some  publick  encourage- 
ment, because  he  may  think  himself  precluded  by  his 
advertisement  (that  it  was  to  be  the  last  time),  I  must 
beg  leave,  by  your  means,  to  convey,  not  only  my  own, 
but  the  desires  of  several  others,  that  he  Avill  perform 
this  again  some  time  next  week. 

"  I  am,  sir,  your  very  humble  servant, 

"A.  Z." 

Poor  as  may  be  the  style  of  this  letter,  it  could  be 
wished  that  the  writer  had  signed  it,  in  order  that  we 
might  salute  his  name.  It  appears,  therefore,  that  there 
were  some  men  whose  admiration  suppoi'ted  tlie  great 
composer;  but  "the  author"  of  the  Ijondoii  Doily  Post 
was  not  amonr:  them,   for  he  considered  that  he   had 


234  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

done  enough  in  printing  the  letter,  and  did  not  add  one 
word  of  commentary.  On  the  14th  lie  confined  himself 
strictly  to  the  office  of  a  clerk,  by  inserting  the  following 
paragraph  :  "  We  are  informed  that  Mr.  Handel,  at  the 
desire  of  several  persons  of  distinction,  intends  to  per- 
form again  his  last  new  oratorio  oi  Israel  in  JEgypt^  on 
the  Tuesday  next,  the  iVth  inst." 

On  the  18th,  the  day  after  this  third  performance,  it 
was  announced  once  more  for  the  19th,  but  on  the  19th 
appeared :  "  This  day,  the  last  new  oratorio  called  Saul^ 
and  not  Israel  in  Egypt^  as  by  mistake  was  advertised 
in  yesterday's  bills  and  papers;  with  a  concerto  on  the 
organ  by  Mr.  Handel,  and  another  on  the  violin  by  the 
famous  Signor  Piantanida,  who  is  just -arrived  from 
abroad." 

Israel  in  Egypt^  therefore,  was  refused  a  fourth  per- 
formance, and  "  the  famous  Signor  Piantanida"  took  its 
place!  Yet  Handel  determined  to  risk  it  during  the 
following  year.  On  the  1st  of  April,  1740,  the  London 
Daily  Post  advertised  it  "  For  that  day  only^  in  this 
season,  with  a  new  concerto  for  several  instruments,  and 
a  concerto  on  the  organ."  After  that,  it  was  heard  of 
no  more  until  1756,  when,  instead  of  the  Funeral  An- 
them in  the  first  part,  extracts  from  Solomon  and  the 
Occasional  Oratorio  were  substituted.*  Even  at  that 
time,  when  his  performances  were  much  sought  after, 
Handel  was  obliged  to  use  the  public  gently.  He  gave 
Israel  twice  only  in  1756,  on  the  17th  and  24th  of  March  ; 
once  in  1757,  on  the  4th  of  March;  and  once  in  1758, 
on  the  24th  of  February.  In  fact,  including  a  represent- 
ation at  Oxford,  of  which  I  possess  the  handbook,  this 
admirable  work  was  only  performed  nine  times  during  the 
lifetime  of  its  author  !  Its  failure  must  have  been  radical, 
for  Walsh  did  not  even  draw  out  oi Israel  one  of  those 
books  of  "  Songs  in  the  Oratorio,  called  so-and-so,"  which 

*  See  "  Catalogue." 


"ISRAEL"     ARRANGED.  235 

he  sold  for  lialf-a-crowri.  The  score  was  unedited  in 
1759,  when  the  composer  died.* 

But  this  subhme  work  was  destined  to  a  worse  flite 
than  a  complete  failure ;  it  had  to  pass  through  the  stu- 
pid hands  of  arrangers.  It  was  performed  in  1765  at 
Co  vent  Garden  with  twelve  airs  and  fourteen  recitatives, 
the  music  of  which  was  taken  from  the  Italian  operas  of 
Handel,  and  set  to  English  sacred  words:  ''^Israel  in 
Egypt^  as  it  was  performed  at  the  Theater  Royal  in  Cov- 
ent  Garden,  the  choruses  entire,  and  the  songs  from  other 
works  of  the  late  G.  F.  Handel,  Esq.  London,  1765," 
One  is  obliged  to  confess  that  the  excellent  Christopher 
Smith,  who  continued  to  give  performances  of  oratorios 
once  every  year,  as  his  master  had  done,  had  something 
to  do  with  this  pot  pourri.  There  is  a  complete  score 
of  it  among  the  collection  of  books  which  he  left  behind 
him.f  The  adulterations  in  verse  are  interpolated  into 
the  oratorio,  which  is  in  prose  !  An  analysis  of  this  will 
be  found  in  the  "  Catalogue,"  in  the  article  upon  Israel. 
It  was  then  that  "  Great  Jehovah,  all  adoring,"  was  made 
of  the  melody  composed  for  "  Di  Cupido  impiego  i  van- 
ni"  ("  I  borrow  the  wings  of  Cupid")  ! 

To  the  fault  of  effecting  such  adulterations  was  also 

*  See  Appendix  M. 

t  Israel  is  not  the  only  work  to  which  the  Procrustean  law  has  been 
applied.  In  the  same  precious  collection  there  is  also  a  Solomon,  dated 
1762,  in  which  similar  pieces  of  patchwork  may  be  found.  Instead  of 
the  original  music  of  "Sad,  solemn  sound,"  that  of  "Spera  si"  ("Have 
hope"),  in  Admetus,  has  been  substituted;  the  same  thing  for  "Thy 
music  is  divine,"  which  has  been  replaced  by  an  air  out  of  Siroe,  "  0 
placido  il  mare"  ("  Oh  calm  the  sea").  The  overture  itself  has  been  re- 
placed by  the  first  movement  of  that  of  the  Fireworks  Music.  Even  in 
the  volumes  of  this  collection,  which  contain  music  in  the  handwriting 
of  Handel,  we  find  interpolations  of  the  same  nature,  which  are  due  cer- 
tainly to  the  lovers  of  medleys.  When  they  revived  the  Occasional  Ora- 
torio, they  pushed  the  practice  to  such  a  pitch  as  to  interpolate  into  it  a 
duet  by  Purcell ! 

"  Pestc  soit  de  ta  chute  I  empoisonneur,  au  diable  ! 
Eu  eusses-tu  fait  une  a  te  casser  le  nez." 

Le  Misanthrope. 


236  LIFE    OF    HANDEL. 

added  that  of  not  acknowledging  them,  so  that  serious 
men,  like  Crosse,  were  deceived.  "  It  would  appear, 
however,"  says  he,  "  that  the  public  possess  this  work  in 
an  imperfect  state,  and  that  there  are  many  connecting 
links  to  the  choruses  w^hich  do  not  exist  in  print.  In  the 
Ancient  Coyicert  books  for  April,  1792,  there  is  a  recita- 
tive, '  Thrice  happy  Israel,'  which  includes  part  of  Mil- 
ton's invocation,  '  Hail,  holy  light !'  and  a  treble  song, 
'  When  the  sun  o'er  yonder  hills ;'  and  in  those  for  March, 
1797,  there  is  also  a  treble  air, '  Great  Jehovah,  awful 
word  ; — all  professedly  taken  from  Israel  in  Egypt ;  and 
we  have  recently  heard  the  same  recitative  at  a  provin- 
cial meeting,  with  some  additional  lines;  and  also  an- 
other, beginning  '  God,  look  forth,'  with  a  bass  song, 
*  Wave  from  wave.'  Only  three  MS.  copies  of  these  un- 
published parts  are  known  to  be  in  existence,  one  of 
which  is  in  the  King's  library,  another  in  that  of  Sir 
George  Smart,  by  whom  they  were  made  use  of  at  the 
Norwich  and  Newcastle  Festivals  of  1824,  and  the  third 
in  that  of  another  person.  The  Hailstones  Chorus  is 
prefaced  in  these  copies  by  the  following  recitative : 
'  Yet  Pharaoh  still  exalted,' "  etc.* 

All  this  is  taken  from  the  Medley  of  I765.f  The  king. 
Sir  George,  and  "  the  other  person,"  possessed  nothing 
to  be  coveted.  I  am  much  better  oft'  than  they,  for  I 
possess  the  complete  score  of  1765,  including  "  O  sing  ye 
praises  to  Great  Jehovah,"  rigged  up  as  the  music  of 
"  lo  gia  t'amai,  sdegnasti  esser  mia  sposa,"  of  liodelinda 

*  Crosse's  Account,  etc.,  p.  427. 

t  "When  the  sun,"  is  made  out  of  "  Caro  padre,"  in  Ezio  ;  "  Great 
Jehovah's  awful  word,"  of  "  Vuo  dar  pace"  ("  I  wish  to  give  peace"),  a 
tenor  air  in  Tamerlane,  transposed  five  notes  higher  for  a  soprano ; 
"Wave  from  wave,"  Avith  "  Sorge  iufausta"  ("An  ill-omened  storm 
arises")  of  Orlando.  Mr.  Lacy,  although  his  profound  knowledge  of  all 
the  music  of  Handel  has  rendered  him  alive  to  all  these  transmutations, 
can  not  discover  the  origin  of  the  recitatives  ;  but  the  original  MS.,  and 
the  different  copies  by  Smith,  which  do  not  furnish  a  word  of  them,  at 
any  rate  prove  that  they  do  not  belong  to  Israel. 


VARIOUS    AKRANGEKS.  237 

("  I  loved  tliee  once,  thou  did'st  scorn  to  be  my  wife") ; 
like  a  statue  of  Jupiter  dressed  up  in  a  tunic  of  Daphnis. 

On  the  16th  of  March,  1816,  Sir  George  Smart,  who 
has  the  merit  of  having  caused  many  oratorios  to  be  per- 
formed at  that  epoch,  gave,  among  others,  Israel  in 
Egypt^  thus  advertised  :  "  The  choruses  entire,  and  many 
additional  recitatives  and  songs  from  other  of  the  works 
of  Handel  will  be  introduced,  including  some  from  the 
original  MS.  score  (by  permission),  as  performed  under 
the  direction  of  Handel."  This  advertisement  and 
Crosse's  note,  lead  me  to  fear  that  the  venerable  Sir 
George  must  also  have  borrowed  Cupid's  wings — "  Di 
Cupido  impiego  i  vanni."  I  should  be  sorry  to  say  that 
they  were  ever  used  "  under  the  direction  of  Handel." 

It  seems,  in  truth,  as  if  certain  words  are  destined, 
like  certain  men,  to  an  evil  destiny.  This  grand  master- 
piece, w^hich  began  by  failing,  and  which  was  afterward 
travestied  as  we  have  seen,  has  not  escaped,  even  in 
our  time,  a  new  profanation.  A  professor,  Mr.  T  *  *  *, 
who  caused  Israel  to  be  performed  in  1838,  at  the  Nor- 
wich Festival,  took  the  theme  of  the  Yandals  of  1765, 
and  played  it  with  variations.  Copying,  without  imitat- 
ing them,  he  added  not  less  than  nine  pieces  of  the  same 
stuff.* 

*  1°  Recitative. — "Israel,  liow  art  thou  fallen,"  made  out  of  "  Alma 
d'el  gran  Pompeo,"  of  Jtdiits  Ccesar. 

2°  Air. — "Hear  my  crying,"  made  out  of  "  Cara  sposa,  amante  cara," 
of  Binaldo. 

3°  Air. — "  Great  is  Jehovah,  the  God  of  Jacob,"  made  out  of  the  gal- 
lant air  in  Bodelinda,  "lo  gia  t'amai,  sdeguasti  esser  mia  sposa,"  noticed 
before  as  applied,  in  1765,  to  "0  sing  ye  praises  to  great  Jehovah." 

4°  Ai?: — "  He  layeth  the  beams,"  from  a  rural  air  in  Fzio,  "  Nasce  al 
bosco"  ("Born  in  the  woods"),  taken  from  the  pasticcio  Redemption  of 
Arnold,  who  was  the  first  culprit.  Preston,  in  The  Beauties  of  Music  and 
Poetry^  had  already  applied  this  very  air  to  other  English  words — "  The 
happy  swain — Have  you  seen  the  morning  sky  ?" 

5°  Recitative. — "  God  looking  forth."  )  Both  borrowed  from  the  pastic- 
ci Air. — "  Waves  from  waves."  )      cio  of  1765. 
7°  Duet. — "  Praise  ye  Jehovah,  who  dwelleth  in  Zion,"  from  the  duet 


238  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

How  is  it  possible  not  to  believe  in  flitality?  Mr. 
Snrinun,  who  has  spent  liis  life  in  restoring  Handel's 
music  to  its  purity,  has  adopted  the  professor's  arrange- 
ments in  his  own  edition  of  Israel  in  Egypt !  Better 
still :  he  caused  them  to  be  performed  on  the  6th  and  7th 
of  March,  1840,  when  giving  Israel^  without  saying  that 
Handel  never  wrote  such  music  for  such  words.  How  is 
it  possible  not  to  believe  in  the  fatality  which  made 
(Edipus  a  twofold  parricide  ?  Mr.  Surraan  himself, 
though  a  true  musician,  has  replaced  in  these  two  per- 
formances the  original  duet,  "  The  Lord  is  my  strength," 
by  "Praise  Jehovah,  who  dAvelleth  in  Zion  ;"  and  sung 
with — what  ?  Why,  with  the  music  of  a  duet  in  Min- 
aldo^  breathing  rage  and  hatred,  "  Al  trionfo  del  nostro 
furor"  ("To  the  triumph  of  our  fury"). 

But  people  are  at  length  recovered  from  this  perverse 
taste  for  amelioration,  and  the  musical  OEdipus,  the  ex- 
cellent conductor,  Mr.  Surman,  like  all  the  others,  now 
executes  the  most  powerful  of  oratorios  in  its  magnificent 
integrity,  and  without  any  adulteration.  Israel  in  Egypt 
is  sufficient  for  itself;  but  if  thought  to  be  too  short  to 
fill  up  an  evening,  thei-e  is  the  choice  of  adding  to  it,  as 
a  first  part,  according  to  the  master's  own  selection, 
either  the  Funeral  Anthem^  or  the  extracts  from  Solo- 
Tnon.  My  own  preference  would  be  in  favor  of  the 
Faneral  Anthem^  a  work  which  is  entirely  beautiful,  but 
which  is  now  lost  to  universal  admiration. 

in  Hinaldo,  "Al  trioBfo  del  nostro  furor"  ("  To  the  triumph  of  our 
fury"). 

8°  Air. — "  O  Lord,  thou  hast  in  raorcy,"  from  the  first  air  in  the  can- 
tata, CceclUa  Volffi,  very  much  altered,  "  La  virtute  e  un  vero  nume" 
("Virtue  is  a  real  divinity"). 

9°  Air. — "  He  has  rebuked  the  heathen."  This  is  the  crowning  piece. 
The  first  part  is  made  out  of  a  mutilated  air  in  Sciplo,  "  Scoglio  d'immota 
fronte"  ("The  firm  fixed  rock") ;  the  second,  of  a  fragment  taken  from 
"  L'ombra  del  genitor"  ("  My  father's  spirit"),  of  Julius  Ccusar  /  So  that 
the  sacred  song,  "  He  has  rebuked,"  is  a  medley  of  two  pieces  taken 
from  two  different  operas  ;  and  a  capo  of  Julius  Ctesar  sends  us  back  to 
JScipio. 


IMITATIVE     MUSIC.  239 

Israel  hi  Egypt^  like  The  Messiah^  and  the  Occa- 
sional  Oratorio^  is  composed  of  passap^es  taken  mrhatbn 
fi-om  the  Bible  ;  which  gives  me  occasion  to  observe  that 
they  are  in  prose,  the  poem  of  all  the  other  oratorios 
being  in  verse.  The  MS.  does  not  contain  any  of  the 
names  of  the  personages.  Nevertheless  the  handbook, 
which  includes  the  extracts  from  Solomon  for  the  first 
part,  has  in  this  part  the  names  of  personages  (High 
Priest,  Joseph,  Israelite  woman,  Israelite  man),  as  if  tlie 
composer  wished  to  throw  it  into  a  dramatic  form.  The 
words,  in  their  biblical  simplicity,  form  a  poem  eminently 
dramatic* 

In  the  score  of  Israel  in  Egypt^  many  examples  of 
imitative  music  may  be  found.  The  accompaniment  of 
"  Then-  land  brought  forth  frogs,"  is  an  attempt  to  rep- 

*  This  oratorio  is  now  sung  constantly  and  everywhere.  It  is  included 
in  Mr.  HuLlah's  repertoire  at  St.  Martin's  Hall ;  and  each  time  that  I  have 
attended  its  performance  there,  the  one  shilling  pit  was  filled  with  a 
compact  ci'owd  of  persons,  among  whom  I  have  noticed  many  who  were 
following  the  score  with  small  octavo  editions.  The  popularity  of  such  a 
transeendant  work  is  an  incontrovertible  proof  of  the  high  point  to  which 
musical  education  has  arrived  in  England.^  Let  those  who  doubt  this, 
read  the  following  article,  taken  from  the  Era  of  the  20th  of  November, 
1853,  on  a  performance  of  the  previous  evening: — "It  is  always  good  to 
inhale  the  bracing  mountain  air  of  Handel.  His  music  beats  with  the 
strong  pulse  of  a  wholesome,  humanitary,  universal  feeling.  No  theme 
ever  seems  too  great  for  Handel,  he  moves  at  home  among  miracles — he 
has  music  nt  for  Sinai  and  the  passage  of  the  Red  Sea.  In  the  bold  cer- 
tainty and  inexhaustibleness  of  his  inspirations,  he  calls  up  the  image  of 
the  old  prophet  who  smote  the  rock,  and  the  waters  gushed  forth.  It  is 
music  to  make  one  grow  strong  as  he  sits  and  listens.  Israel  in  Egypt  is 
mainly  a  series  of  colossal  choruses,  almost  exclusively  a  mountain  chain 
of  immense  choruses,  connected  by  some  rugged  passes  of  recitative,  and 
a  very  few  green  vales  of  song,  into  which  we  are  permitted  to  peep. 
These  choruses  are  all  wonderful  specimens,  in  their  way,  of  most  consum- 
mate musical  treatment.  But  there  is  a  poetic  force  of  conception  in 
them,  that  still  more  commends  them." 

It  is  in  this  style  that  the  diapason  of  musical  criticism  in  England  is 
occasionally  heard.  Such  articles  as  these  are  written  currente  calamo, 
with  a  rapid  pen,  and  their  writers  do  not  even  care  to  sign  them.  Such 
things  as  these  are  cast  into  the  rapid  torrent  of  daily  publicity — bright 
flashes  of  light  which  illuminate  the  dawn  of  a  morning,  and  then  are 
seen  no  more. 

*  See  Appendix  N. 


240  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

resent  the  jumping  about  of  frogs ;  that  of  the  chorus, 
"  There  came  all  manner  of  flies,"  plainly  imitates  the 
murmuring,  the  buzzing  of  swarms  of  flies.  It  is  also 
certain  that  the  orchestration  of "  He  gave  them  hail- 
stones for  rain,"  is  intended  to  imitate  the  pattering  of 
hail. 

The  works  of  Handel  furnish  examples  of  many  similar 
attempts.  In  Berenice^  the  accompaniment  of  "  Tortor- 
ella  che  rimira"  ("  The  turtle-dove  which  coos"),  is  an 
ingenious  imitation  of  the  cooing  of  the  dove.  In  the 
sixth  Chandos  Anthem^  "  O  sing  unto  the  Lord,"  at  the 
verse,  "  The  waves  of  the  sea  rage  horribly,"  he  attempts 
to  express,  and  not  without  success,  the  roaring  of  the 
sea.  In  Jephtlia^  the  peculiar  movement  which  accom- 
panies "  Waft  her,  angels,  to  the  sky,"  materiahzes  the 
undulation  of  something  floating  in  space.  In  JBelshazzar^ 
a  little  symphony,  marked  "Allegro  postillions"  (sic), 
which  precedes  the  chorus  of  the  "  Wise  men,"  is  evi- 
dently intended  to  represent  the  haste  with  which  the 
wise  men  came  to  the  palace.  A  cotemporary  of  Handel 
has  pointed  out  that  "  the  several  breakings  of  the  word 
hallelujah  in  the  last  chorus  (hal-le-lu-jah),  in  order  to 
represent  the  shoutings  and  acclamations  of  a  people 
when  laboring  and  panting  for  breath,  is  a  thought  truly 
Handelian  indeed."  * 

In  Joshua,  the  great  composer  has  gone  still  farther. 
"  He  has  endeavored,"  says  Hawkins,  "  by  the  harmony 
of  one  long,  extended  note,  to  impress  upon  the  imagin- 
ation of  his  hearers,  the  idea  of  the  great  luminary  of 
the  universe  arrested  in  his  course ;  or,  in  other  words, 
to  make  them  hear  the  sun  stand  still." 

Clouetf  points  out  that,  in  "  Applauso  i  duci  in  com- 
minciar"  (The  princes  applauded),  of  Alexander's  Feast^ 
he  paints  Alexander  issuing  forth  in  the  midst  of  an 
orgie,  arming  himself  with  a  torch,  and  followed  by  his 
generals,  running  to  set  tire  to  Persepolis.     Whilst  the 

*  Eemarlcs  upon  Musk.  i  Chants  Clasdques.    Paris:  Eichaut. 


IMITATIVE    POETKY.  241 

accompaniment  sparkles  with  the  confused  and  unequal 
glare  of  the  torches,  the  song  expresses  truthfully  the 
precipitation  and  the  tumult  of  the  crowd,  the  rolling  of 
the  flames,  and  the  living  splendor  of  a  conflagration. 

The  greatest  composers  have  all  made  a  similar  use  of 
imitative  music.  The  Creation  of  Haydn,  the  "  Lacri- 
mosa"  in  Mozart's  Requiem^  the  Pastoral  Symphony  of 
Beethoven,  and  the  overture  of  Mehul's  Jeu7ie  Henry  are 
admirable  and  memorable  examples  of  this.  Even  the 
poets,  whose  means  of  execution  are  infinitely  more 
limited,  have  made  as  much  use  as  they  could  of  imita- 
tive poetry.  Racine  certainly  did  not  write  unintention- 
ally the  famous  monosyllabic  verse  : 

"  Le  del  n'est  plus  pur  que  le  fond  de  mon  coeur." — PMdre. 

And  it  was  not  by  chance  that  he  multiphed  the  letter  s 
so  often  in  that  other  celebrated  verse : 

"Pour  qui  sout  ces  serpents  qui  sifflents*  sur  vos  tetes." — Andro7naqu€. 

The  ill-humored  Boileau,  who  assumed  also  the  singular 
pretension  of  regulating  the  poetic  art,  has  painted  Idle- 
ness very  happily  in  the  languor  of  this  finale  : 

"  Et  lasse  d'un  pareil  effort 
Soupire,  ^tend  les  bras,  ferme  I'oeil  et  s'endort." — Lutrin. 

Even  those  who  are  not  acquainted  vnth.  Latin  under- 
stand only  by  the  ear  the  meanmg  of  Virgil's 

"  Quadrupedaute  putrem  sonitu  quatit  ungula  campum." 

English  poetry  is  also  full  of  similar  examples.  Shelley's 
exquisite  poem,  The  Se7isitive  JPlant,  presents  several 
beautiful  examples  of  this  : 

♦  Hissing  serpents  are,  like  singing  swans,  an  extinct  species  which 
has  not  been  heard  of  since  the  poets  of  antiquity  discovered  it.    Natural 
history  makes  no  mention  of  them. 
11 


242  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

"The  plumed  iusects  swift  and  free, 
Like  goldeu  boats  on  a  sunny  sea, 
Laden  with  light  and  odor  which  pass 
Over  the  gleam  of  the  living  grass. 

"  The  quivering  vapors  of  dim  noontide. 
Which,  like  a  sea,  o'er  the  warmth  earth  glide, 
In  which,  every  sound,  and  odor,  and  beam, 
Move  as  reeds  in  a  single  stream." 

Even  the  immortal  Shakspeare  himself  consecrated  this 
poetical  ornament  by  making  use  of  it.  Who  can  not 
discern  the  connection  between  the  sense  and  the  sound 
when,  in  the  "  Seven  Ages  of  Man,"  he  describes  the 
babe  as 

"  Mewling  and  puking  in  his  nurse's  arms." — As  You  Like  It. 

Or  when  he  speaks  of 

«    *    *    *    The  brook  that  brawls  along  this  wood." — As  You  Like  It. 

Or  when  he  sketches  the  shock  of  battle,  as 

"    *    *    *    Eoused  up  with  boisterous  untuned  drums, 
"With  harsla  resounding  trumpets'  dreadful  bray. 
And  grating  shock  of  wrathful  iron  arms." — Richard  II. 

In  spite  of  such  authorities,  there  are  few  critics  who 
do  not  think  themselves  compelled  to  make  objections  to 
imitative  music.  Without  the  slightest  shame,  I  must 
confess  that  I  do  not  understand  such  severity.  I  ac- 
cept all  that  art  can  produce  and  recognize  as  subject 
to  it — the  natural,  the  physical,  and  the  moral  worlds, 
the  heavens  and  the  earth.  Kidicule  those,  if  you  will, 
who  wish  to  push  imitative  music  to  reality,  who  en- 
deavor to  make  it  deceive  tlie  ear,  as  the  painter  amuses 
himself  with  making  eye-cheats.  That  I  can  understand; 
for  to  imitate  a  blacksmith  exactly,  there  is  no  need  of 
an  orchestra ;  it  would  be  better  to  take  a  hammer  and 
an  anvil  at  once.  But  if  it  be  possible,  by  the  artistic 
imitation  of  nature,  by  certain  combinations  of  sonority, 


HANPEL    FOND     OF    IMITATIVE    JfXrSIC.         243 

to  givo  birtli  in  yonr  miiul  to  a  certnin  material  image  ; 
if  you  can  represent  any  tiling- liarmonically ;  if  you  can 
make  darkness  visible  to  the  eyes  of  the  imagination,  as 
Handel  did  in  that  chorus  in  Israel^  *'  He  sent  a  thick 
darkness" — why  slionld  it  not  be  done  ?  Gretry  con- 
gratulated himself  upon  having  placed  in  the  overture  of 
Panurge^  a  phrase  of  twenty  bars,  one  of  the  largest  that 
has  ever  been  made  in  music.  "  It  paints,"  says  he,  "  the 
character  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Isle  of  Lanterns,  a 
country  in  which  no  one  is  ever  in  a  hurry."  What  is 
there  in  this  that  can  be  considered  oifensive  to  the 
dignity  of  art,  reason,  and  good  taste  ?  The  absurdity 
is  to  deprive  ourselves  of  an  intellectual  sensation. 

Handel  never  regarded  music  as  a  simple  ari-angement 
of  agreeable  sounds;  he  always  attempted  to  make  it 
speak  to  the  mind — that  it  should  have  a  physical  as 
well  as  a  moral  meaning.  SolornoJi  offers  an  admirably 
successful  result  of  this  endeavor.  The  two  women  sing 
in  an  absolutely  different  manner.  The  entire  part  of 
the  real  mother  is  full  of  grace,  unction,  and  tender- 
ness; whilst  that  of  the  false  mother — she  who  has  stolen 
the  child — is,  on  the  contrary,  harsh,  hard,  and  violent 
throughout.  If  they  did  not  pronounce  a  single  word  ; 
if  they  only  uttered  the  sounds  that  are  noted  for  them, 
they  would  be  perfectly  distinguishable  from  each  other. 
This  rare  fitness  of  expression  was  so  well  appreciated  by 
the  cotemporaries  of  Handel,  that  he  has  CA^en  been 
compared  to  Demosthenes,  in  an  "Essay  on  the  Ora- 
torial  Art,"  in  the  London  Magazine  for  1762: — "To 
exemplify  an  instance  or  two  of  musical  expression  out 
of  Mr.  Handel,  in  the  strain  of  Dalilah's  address  to  Sam- 
son, as  my  '  taith  and  truth' — the  subject  is  an  entreaty 
enforced  by  passionate  love.  How  finely  has  the  com- 
poser worked  into  this  strain  (which  yet  is  but  a  confined 
subject)  the  three  several  emotions  of  complaint^  of  lan- 
guishment^  and  importunity — all  as  essential  to  the  sub- 
ject as  they  are  forcibly  expressed !     Again,  in  another 


244  LIFE    OF    HANDEL. 

])assage  of  the  said  oratorio — 'To  song  and  dance.' 
Mirth  is  the  theme  here,  as  well  as  in  that  passage  of  the 
Allegro^  'Mirth,  admit  me  of  thy  crew;'  and  yet  the  ex- 
pression of  joy  is  very  distinctly  and  finely  adapted  to 
both  those  cases.  In  the /ormer,  it  appears  in  the  air  of 
exultation  and  triumph  and  religious  joy — of  chant  and 
praise  to  Dagon  for  the  captivity  of  an  enemy,  till  now 
almost  too  dreadful  to  behold ;  and,  in  the  latter  case^ 
how  naturally  are  both  the  strain  and  time  calculated  to 
express  mirth  of  a  much  loiver  kind,  viz.,  facetiousness^ 
festivity^  and  all  the  wantonness  of  that  passion  !  Ex- 
amples of  this  kind  are  innumerable  in  Mr.  Handel,  and 
these,  when  represented  with  all  their  proper  accompa- 
niments, are  invaluable  demonstrations,  as  well  of  the 
grandeur  of  the  science,  as  of  the  expressiveness  of  its 
composition.  In  this  view  of  them,  most  certainly 
Handel's  oratorios  will  rank  with  any  of  Cicero's  or 
Demosthenes'  orations ;  and,  without  doubt,  the  several 
parts  of  the  subject  are  as  well  planned  by  the  musician, 
as  disposed  by  the  orator,  before  they  are  drawn  out  into 
composition."* 

*  Imitative  music  is  to  our  physical  senses  what  expressive  music  is  to 
our  moral.  When,  thanks  to  its  grapliic  power,  it  represents  horses 
galloping,  insects  flying,  the  sea  roaring,  the  fire  devouring,  and  the  lion 
leaping  on  his  prey — why  should  that  he  condemned,  when  it  is  thought 
good  to  represent,  in  the  same  manner,  the  exultation  and  the  depression 
of  the  soul.  The  empire  of  art  is  boundless,  and  all  that  is  indispensable 
is  success.  Only  the  ridiculous  is  ridiculous.  Art  is,  after  all,  only  an 
admirable  convention,  to  which  it  is  first  necessary  to  submit  yourself  be- 
fore you  can  enjoy  it.  If  you  wish  to  criticise  it  so  closely,  you  must 
forbid  to  music  the  representation  of  the  passions.  Anger  does  not  sing ; 
she  cries:  Sorrow  does  not  sing;  she  complains  :  Passion  does  not  sing; 
she  speaks  :  Pain  does  not  sing ;  she  weeps.  The  music  of  expression 
itself  is  not  absolute  in  its  effects  ;  for  we  often  require  to  be  forewarned 
of  its  intention,  in  order  to  be  affected  by  it  ;  and  it  can  sometimes  apply 
the  same  notes  to  ideas  opposed  to  each  other,  as  is  frequently  the  case 
in  pieces  arranged  in  stanzas  and  couplets. 

The  abuse  which  the  critics  have  directed  against  imitative  music,  re- 
minds me  of  the  Ephori  who  condemned  Timotheus,  for  having,  in  his 
musical  poem  of  Semele.,  imitated,  "  in  an  indecent  manner,"  the  cries  of 
a  woman  in  labor :  but  the  same  Ephori  had  already  sentenced  Timo- 


"JUPITEK    IN    AEGOS."  246 

Although  the  fact  is  enveloped  in  obscurity,  there  are 
reasons  for  suspecting  that,  during  the  season  in  which 
Saul  and  Israelwere  produced,  Handel  gave  also  an  opera. 
The  London  Daily  Post  of  the  26th  of  April,  1739, 
announced  suddenly  : — "  On  Tuesday  next.  May  1st,  will 
be  performed,  at  the  King's  Theater  in  the  Haymarket, 
a  dramatical  composition  called  '  Jupiter  in  Argos.' 
[Handel's  name  not  mentioned.]  Intermixed  with 
Choruses,  and  2  Concertos  on  the  organ.  To  begin 
at  7." 

As  there  is  a  lacuna  in  the  collection  of  this  journal  in 
the  British  Museum  Library,  from  the  30th  of  April  to 
the  7th  of  May,  I  can  not  ascertain  precisely  whether  the 
representation  ever  took  place.  Admitting  the  fact,  it 
may  be  that  the  expedition  of  Jupiter  to  Argos  was  not 
a  fortunate  one,  and  he  probably  died  a  violent  death  on 
his  arrival  there  ;  for  the  advertisement  of  the  26th  of 
April  is  the  only  mention  which  the  journals  make  of  this 
matter.  Jupiter  might  well  shake  all  Olympus  with  a 
frown,  when  he  found  that  he  was  submitted  to  Destiny 
like  the  other  gods !  And  Destiny  had  decided  that  all 
Handel's  operas  belonging  to  that  epoch  should  fall 
heavily.  Burney,  w^ho  discovered  only  the  advertise- 
ment of  this  opera,  has  expressed  a  doubt  of  its  existence ; 


thens  to  be  fined  for  adding  three  strings  to  the  ancient  lyre  !  To  adopt 
the  dicta  of  these  early  magistrates  of  Lacedemon  is  to  be  still  more 
blindly  conservative  than  they,  for  it  is  to  retrograde  three  thousand 
years.  Every  one  is  free  to  become  a  Spartan  if  he  wishes,  but  what 
must  we  think  of  Mr.  Macfarren,  who  has  been  so  carried  away  by  the 
doctrinary  system  as  to  say  of  Handel  that,  "in  some  instances,  he 
reaches  the  unfortunate  degree  beyond  the  sublime."  [Musical  World 
for  1849,  p.  215.]  Is  it  not  an  indelible  disgrace  to  insinuate  the  word 
ridicidous  in  connection  with  any  thing  that  Handel  wrote,  without  so 
much  as  daring  to  pronounce  it  ?  Mr.  Macfarren  is  a  composer  and  a 
critic  of  real  talent ;  his  Lenore  is  a  very  beautiful  Avork ;  but  the  pro- 
found admiration  which  he  has  often  expressed  for  the  author  of  Israel 
in  Egypt  will  scarcely  excuse  his  utterance  of  such  an  audacity.  Masters 
like  Handel  know  where  to  stop,  and  their  great  genius  is  a  better  guide 
than  our  poor  sesthetics. 


246  LIFE    OF    HANDEL. 

but  I  have  found,  in  the  Fitzwilliani  Museum,  a  great 
part  of  the  MS.,  comprising  the  last  pages,  dated — "  fine 
dell'  opera  Jupiter  in  Argos^  April  24,  1739,  G.  F.  Han- 
dell,"  which  coincides  with  its  conjectured  performance 
on  the  1st  of  May.  At  any  rate,  it  will  be  seen  by  the 
"  Catalogue"  that  it  was  partly  a  pasticcio,  and  that  it 
certainly  does  not  contain  more  than  twenty  original 
pieces,  and  perhaps  only  eleven.  I  am  inclined  to  believe 
that  it  was  never  performed,  because  it  is  only  to  be 
found  in  the  MSS.  of  scattered  pieces,  and  there  is  no 
copy  of  it  either  in  Buckingham  Palace,  or  in  Mr. 
Lennard's  collection,  or  in  Smith's  collection.  Yet  the 
latter  contains  complete  copies  of  Orestes  and  oi  Alexan- 
der jSeverus,  which  are  pasticcios  without  a  single  original 
note. 

In  spite  of  these  terrible  defeats,  the  indomitable  Han- 
del, wandering  from  theater  to  theater,  reappeared  dur- 
ing the  following  season,  at  the  house  in  Lincoln's  Inn 
Fields,  with  Dryden's  Ode  on  /St.  Cecilia's  Day. 

The  London  Daily  Post  of  Saturday,  the  17th  of 
November,  1739,  announced: — "At  the  Theater  Royal 
in  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields,  on  Thursday,  November  22d 
(being  St.  Cecilia's  Day),  will  be  performed  a  new  ode., 
Avith  two  new  concertos  for  several  instruments,  which  will 
be  preceded  by  Alexa7ider^s  Feast^  and  a  concerto  on  the 
organ.  Boxes,  half  a  guinea;  pit,  5s.;  gallery,  3s.  and 
2s.  To  begin  at  six  o'clock.  The  passage  from  the 
fields  to  the  house  will  be  covered,  for  better  con- 
veniency." 

On  the  4th  of  February  following,  the  same  journal 
announced  Acis  and  Dryden's  Ode  for  the  7th  ;  but  on 
the  6th  the  following  paragraph  appeared  : — "  In  con- 
sideration of  the  weather  continuing  so  cold,  the  sere- 
nata  called  Ads  and  Galatea  will  be  put  off  for  a  few 
nights  further,  of  which  due  notice  will  be  given."  The 
performance  took  place  only  on  the  21st.  The  frost  of 
1740  is  celebrated  in  history.     The  new  composition  ap- 


TWELVE    GRAND    CONCERTOS.  247 

peared  six  times  during  the  season.*  One  of  its  airs, 
"  Orpheus  could  lead,"  is  marked  "  d  la  hornpipe."  As 
the  hornpipe  is  a  very  saltatory  dance,  it  is  something  as 
if  a  modern  composer  were  to  mark  one  of  his  airs,  "  a 
la  polka." 

It  is  necessary  to  distinguish  Dryden's  Ode  on  St. 
CecilicCs  Day  from  his  Alexander'^s  Jt^east,  which  also  is 
an  ode  for  the  Festival  of  St.  Cecilia.  The  poet  does 
not  seem  to  have  written  the  former  with  an  excess  of 
enthusiasm.  On  the  3d  of  September,  1687,  he  wrote 
to  his  son,  who  was  in  Italy  : — "  In  the  mean  time  I  am 
writing  a  song  for  St.  Cecilia's  Feast,  who  you  know  is 
the  patroness  of  music.  This  is  troublesome,  and  no  way 
beneticial ;  but  I  could  not  deny  the  stewards  of  the 
feast,  who  came  in  a  body  to  me  to  desire  that  kindness, 
one  of  them  being  Mr.  Bridgeman,  whose  parents  are 
your  mother's  friends."f 

It  is  also  to  1739  that  the  book  of  Seven  Sonatas^  or 
Trios,  Opera  5^  (which  is  a  continuation  of  the  Six  Son- 
atas, or  Trios,  Op.  2%  of  1732),  belongs;  and  also  the 
Twelve  Grand  Concertos,  or  septuors.  Op.  6^,  performed 
during  the  season  of  1739-40.  Handel  had  already 
written,  in  1736,  the  Concertante  in  Nine  Parts,  which 
Walsh,  in  1742,  inserted  in  Select  Harmony.  The 
Twelve  Concertos  were  composed  at  once,  between  the 
29th  of  September  and  the   30th  of  October,  1739,  and 

*  Performances  during  this  season  of  1739-40  : 

November    22d  and  27th,  1739 — Alexcifider^s  Feast  and  iSL    Cecilia's 
Day. 

December  13th  and  20th — Acis  and  Galatea  and  St.  CeciUa''s  Bay,  with 
two  new  concertos  for  several  instruments  and  an  organ  concerto. 

February  21st,  1740 — Acis  and  Galatea,  and  St.  Cecilia^s  Bay. 

February  27th— L^Allegw. 

March  6th,  10th,  and  Uih—Z'Alleffro. 

March  21st — Saul. 

March  26th— Esther. 

March  26th — Acis  and  Dryden\s  Ode  ;  for  the  Musical  Fund. 

April  1st — Israel. 

April  2Sd—r Allegro. 
t  Bryden's  Works,  Moxon's  edition,  p.  60. 


248  LIFP]    OP    HANDEL. 

were  published  by  subscription.  "  This  day,"  says  the 
London  Daily  Post  of  October  29th,  "  are  published 
proposals  for  printing  by  subscription,  with  his  majesty's 
royal  license  and  protection,  Twelve  Grand  Concertos, 
in  Seven  Parts,  for  four  violins,  a  tenor,  a  violoncello, 
with  a  thorough  bass  for  the  harpsichord.  Composed  by 
Mr.  Handel.  Price  to  subscribers,  two  guineas.  Ready 
to  be  delivered  by  April  next.  Subscriptions  are  taken 
by  the  author,  at  his  house  in  Brook-street,  Hanover 
Square,*  and  by  Walsh."  Repeating  his  advertisement 
on  November  22d,  the  publisher  adds  : — "  Two  of  the 
above  Concertos  will  be  performed  this  evening  at  the 
Theater  Royal,  Lincoln's  Inn." 

On  Monday,  the  21st  of  April,  1740,  the  Daily  Post 
says : — "  This  day  is  published,  with  his  majesty's  license 
and  protection.  Twelve  Grand  Concertos  for  violins,  and 
in  seven  parts.  Composed  by  Mr.  Handel.  N.  B. — 
Those  gentlemen  who  are  subscribers  are  desired  to 
send  for  their  books  to  the  author,  or  to  J.  Walsh." 

In  announcing  them  again  a  few  days  afterward,  in  the 
Daily  Post,  Walsh  adds  . — "These  Concertos  were  per- 
formed at  the  Theater  Royal  in  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields,  and 
now  are  played  in  most  public  places  with  the  greatest 
applause."  This  was  the  case  with  all  the  w^orks  of  Han- 
del. They  were  so  frequently  performed  at  cotempo- 
raneous  concerts  and  benefits,  that  they  seem,  during  his 
lifetime,  to  have  quite  become  public  property.  More- 
over, he  did  nothing  which  the  other  theaters  did  not 
attempt  to  imitate.  In  the  little  theater  of  the  Hay- 
market,  evening  entertainments  \vere  given  in  exact 
imitation  of  his : — "  Several  concertos  for  different  in- 

*  Handel's  "  dwelling  was  on  the  south  side  of  Brook-street,^  near 
Hanover  Square,  in  a  house  four  doors  from  Bond-street  and  two  from 
the  passage  to  the  stable-yard." — (Hawkins.)  It  is  now  No.  57  Brook- 
street.  This  little  house,  in  which  Haudel  resided  for  a  great  number 
of  years,  and  where  he  died,  has  not  any  inscription  to  point  it  out  to 
public  interest.  The  present  tenant  kindly  permitted  me  to  visit  it,  but 
it  contains  absolutely  nothing  to  remind  one  of  its  former  inhabitant. 
'  Soo  Appendix  O. 


THE    SAXON    GOLIATH.  249 

striiineiits,  with  a  variety  of  cliosen  airs  of  the  best 
masters,  and  the  famous  Salve  lleg'uta  of  Hasse."  Tlie 
handbills  issued  by  the  nobles  at  the  King's  Theater, 
make  mention  also  of  "  several  concertos  for  different 
instruments."  They  even  attempted  to  occupy  the  same 
arena  which  he  had  opened;  for  on  the  10th  of  April, 
1734,  they  gave  "a  new  oratorio,  or  sacred  drama, 
called  David^  set  to  music  by  Sg^.  Nicolo  Porpora."* 
But  this  time  it  was  not  of  victory  David  had  to  boast ; 
for  he  promptly  disappeared  with  great  humility.  The 
Saxon  Goliath  was  not  to  be  slain  by  a  stone  from  a 
shng. 

The  Saxon  Goliath  !  Is  there  not  something  appro- 
priate in  tlie  name  ?  Handel  was  truly  an  exceptionable 
man.  The  strength  of  his  mind  was  equaled  only  by  the 
greatness  of  his  intelligence.  The  more  adversity  struck 
him,  the  more  his  energy  developed  itself.  His  resist- 
ance to  evil  fortune  inspires  a  profound  veneration  for  his 
moral  character.  Already  lifty-five  years  old,  vanquish- 
ed, deceived,  pursued  by  a  foction  which  was  as  powerful 
as  it  was  unreasonable,  annoyed  by  petty  rivals,  parodied 
in  the  Dragon  of  Wantley^  a  prey  to  the  bitter  mortifi- 
cations of  an  insolvent  debtor,  he  did  not  give  way ;  he 
showed  no  signs  of  weakness  for  an  instant.  He  braved 
every  thing,  and,  by  his  unaided  self,  accomphshed  the 
work  of  ten  men.  In  the  year  1739  only,  he  produced 
Saul^  Israel^  Dryden's  Ode^  and  the  Twelve  Grand  Con- 
certos— four  lirst-rate  works  of  different  character,  and 
each  of  which  was  enough  to  establish  the  glory  of  a 
composer.  And  this  is  without  reckoning  the  opera  of 
Jupiter  in  Argos^  or  the  troubles,  the  negotiations,  and 
the  difficulties  of  all  sorts,  which  the  organization  of  two 
series  of  concerts,  in  which  he  caused  the  four  great 
novelties  to  be  performed,  must  have  cost  him.  What 
overwhelming  labors !  Mankind  (always  to  its  misfor- 
tune, seduced  by  helmets  and  plumes)  has  sung  for  many 
*  Daily  Journal. 
11* 


260  LIFEOFHANDEL. 

centuries  of  the  intrepid  Ajax,  crying  out  in  the  midst 
of  the  shipwreck,  when  he  was  driven  back  from  the 
shore,  '•'  I  loill  land,  in  spite  of  the  gods  ;"  but  what  was 
this  cry  of  exaltation  and  of  anger,  valiant  as  it  was,  in 
comparison  with  these  mighty  and  accumulated  efibrts 
which  Handel  made  during  those  twelve  months  against 
the  redoubled  attacks  of  fortune. 

Unhappily,  the  masses  were  not  yet  sufficiently  en- 
lightened to  be  occupied  either  by  his  vocal  or  his  in- 
strumental music ;  and  the  aristocracy,  whom  a  better 
education  enabled  to  understand  it,  had  a  prejudice 
against  him.  It  is  but  too  certain  that  works  like  Saul^ 
Israel^  and  Dryden's  Ode  were  not  even  sufficient  for  the 
season;  for  on  the  27th  of  February,  1730,  the  inex- 
haustible composer  gave,  in  addition,  the  ode  ZP Allegro^ 
II  Penseroso  and  II  Moderato^  which  he  composed  in 
fifteen  days.  The  London  Daily  Post^  of  the  27th  of 
February,  1740,  announced:  "Never  performed  before 
— at  the  Royal  Theater,  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields,  this  day 
will  be  performed  LP  Allegro^  etc.,  with  two  new  concer- 
tos for  several  instruments,  and  a  new  concerto  on  the 
organ.  Boxes,  half  a  guinea  ;  pit,  5s. ;  first  gallery,  3s. ; 
upper  gallery,  2s.  Pit  and  gallery  opened  at  four,  and 
boxes  at  five."  The  original  handbook  confirms  this  an- 
nouncement. At  the  beginning  of  the  first  part  we  find 
"  a  new  concerto  for  several  instruments,"  the  same  at 
the  beginning  of  the  second  part ;  and  "  a  new  concerto 
on  the  organ,"  at  the  beginning  of  the  third  part.  The 
poem  oi  Ij'' Allegro,  etc.,  is  by  Milton,  with  the  exception 
of  the  third  part,  II  Moderato,  which  w'as  audaciously 
added  by  Charles  Jennens.  The  first  two  parts  consist 
of  a  very  elevated  discussion  between  Allegro  (tenoi) 
and  Penseroso  (soprano),  each  accompanied  by  a  chorus, 
which  supports  their  arguments.  The  third  is  filled  by 
the  Moderato  of  Jennens,  who,  with  his  choruses,  ad- 
vises them  to  adojjt  the  happy  medium.  A  great  poet 
like  Milton  would  never  have  imagined  this  poor  Mod- 


CHARLES    JENNENS.'  251 

erato,  with  his  mediocrities.  It  required  all  the  boldness 
of  genius  to  attempt  a  subject  so  eminently  undramatic. 
Never  had  music  to  depend  upon  herself  so  entirely.  In 
order  to  break  the  monotony,  an  air  of  Allegro  in  tlie 
tirst  act  is  for  a  basso,  an  air  of  Penseroso  in  the  second 
act  is  for  a  counter-tenor.  The  cold  manner  in  which 
oratorios,  odes,  and  serenatas  are  performed  (without 
either  action  or  costume)  can  alone  permit  these  disor- 
ders in  a  part.  Handel,  nevertheless,  wrote  to  this  sub- 
ject one  of  liis  most  valued  scores. 

The  Gentleman'' s  Magazine  for  May,  1740,  contains  a 
long  piece  of  poetry,  signed  G.  O.,  full  of  the  most  en- 
thusiastic admiration  for  the  author  of  1? Allegro.  It 
commences  thus: 

"TO  ME.  HANDEL, 

**0H  HEARING  'ALEXANDER'S  FEAST,'  '  l' ALLEGRO,  IL  PENSEROSO,'  ETC. 

"If  e'er  Arion's  music  calmed  the  floods, 
And  Orplieus  ever  drew  the  dancing  woods ; 
"Why  do  not  British  trees  and  forest  throng 
To  hear  the  sweeter  notes  of  Handel's  song  ? 
This  does  the  falsehood  of  the  fable  prove, 
Or  seas  and  woods,  when  Handel  harps,  would  move. " 

The  remainder  is  of  the  same  high  poetical  order. 

But  ZP Allegro  could  no  more  move  the  people  of 
those  times  than  it  could  tlie  "seas  and  woods."  The 
season  of  1739-40  was  as  unfruitful  as  its  predecessors. 
Yet  Handel  did  not  the  less  take  care  of  the  poor  ;  for, 
on  the  28th  of  March,  1740,  he  gave  Aci8  and  Dryden's 
Ode  "  for  the  musical  fund  benefit." 

The  mention  of  Charles  Jennens,  the  author  of  H 
Moderato^  suggests  to  me  that  some  information  re- 
specting him  will  not  be  out  of  place. 

Charles  Jennens,  who  also  compiled  the  poems  of  the 
Messiah  and  JBelshazzar^  was  an  amateur  poet.  Ni- 
chols's TAterary  Anecdotes  of  the  Eighteenth  Century 
(vol  iii.,  p.  121)  contains  a  long  notice  of  him.  He  was 
descended  from  a  manufacturing  family  from  Birming- 


252  LIFE    OF     HANDEL. 

ham,  of  whom  he  inherited  great  vvcnlth.  In  his  youth, 
lie  was  remarkable  for  the  number  of  his  servants,  the 
splendor  of  liis  equipages,  and  the  profusion  of  his  table, 
all  whicli  procured  for  him  the  name  of  Sollmon  the 
Macfiuficent.  For  a  longtime  he  mhigledthe  cultivation 
of  literature  with  a  most  pompous  mode  of  life.  Short 
as  was  the  distance  between  Great  Ormond-street, 
Bloomsbury,  where  he  resided,  and  Red  Lion  Passage, 
Fleet-street,  where  was  the  office  of  his  printer,  he  used 
to  go  thither  to  correct  his  proofs  in  a  four-horsed  car- 
riage with  four  lackeys.  When  he  arrived  at  the  pass- 
age he  descended  from  the  coach,  and  was  preceded  by 
a  servant,  whose  business  it  was  to  clear  away  the  oyster- 
shells  or  any  other  obstacle  that  might  impede  his  prog- 
ress. At  the  latter  end  of  his  life  (in  1VG9)  he  com- 
menced an  edition  of  Shakespeare,  and  accused  his 
predecessors  of  negligence  and  want  of  fidelity.  When 
Johnson  and  George  Steevens  proceeded  to  ascertain  the 
value  of  his  criticisms,  he  replied  by  a  pamphlet  directed 
against  them — "  The  Tragedy  of  King  JLecu\  as  lately 
published,  vindicated  from  the  abuse  of  the  Critical  Re- 
viewers, and  the  wonderful  genius  and  abilities  of  those 
gentlemen  for  criticism  set  forth,  celebrated,  and  ex- 
tolled, by  the  editor  of  King  Lear.  1772."  But,  with 
such  men  opposed  to  him,  the  laughers  were  not  on  his 
side.  He  was  generous,  benevolent,  and  a  beneficent 
friend  to  the  arts,  which  should  more  than  cause  the 
vanity  with  which  Steevens  reproached  him  to  be  for- 
gotten, lie  was  well  acquainted  with  Handel,  whose 
part  he  took  against  every  one,  and  he  had  the  honor  to 
be  named  in  his  will.  A  letter  addressed  to  the  Puhlic 
Advertiser^  of  the  14th  of  February,  1771,  in  answer  to 
an  attack  of  George  Steevens  against  Jennens,  which  is 
inserted  in  the  same  journal,  says  that  "  Handel,  to  the 
time  of  his  death,  lived  with  him  in  the  greatest  intimacy 
and  consideration."  He  died  on  the  20th  of  November, 
1773,  aged  seventy-five  years.     It  is  constantly  asserted 


RENOUNCING     OPERAS.  253 

that  he  had  two  daughters,  one  of  whom  married  Lord 
Howe,  and  the  other  Lord  Aylesford.  Nichols  gives, 
however,  the  inscription  upon  his  tomb,  which  states 
that  he  died  a  bachelor.  Nichols  also  gives  his  will, 
which  is  full  of  munificent  legacies  for  charitable  pur- 
poses, and  by  which  he  left  his  large  fortune  to  his  sis- 
ter's son,  William  Penn  Assheton  Curzon,  and  in  default 
of  heirs,  to  liis  godson,  Charles  Finch,  the  second  son  of 
Heneage,  Earl  of  Aylesford.  It  was  therefore  by  this 
nephew,  William  Penn  Curzon,  that  his  property  passed 
into  the  Howe  family.  The  will  states  that  he  gave  to 
William  Penn  Curzon  the  pictures,  engravings,  statues, 
the  library  of  books,  plate,  etc.,  which  were  in  his 
residence  at  Gopsall,  in  Leicestershire,  except  his  music- 
books  and  his  instruments,  which  he  left  to  Heneage, 
Earl  of  Aylesford,  to  be  considered  as  "heir-looms." 
Among  the  pictures  was  a  lai-ge  full-length  portrait  of 
Handel,  by  Hudson,  which  still  adorns  Gopsall,  now  the 
seat  of  Lord  Howe.  I  have  seen  there  also  the  portrait 
of  Charles  Jennens,  when  an  old  man.  He  has  the  air 
of  an  honest  tradesman,  with  a  face  somewhat  full  and 
round.  He  wears  a  very  simple  maroon-colored  coat, 
and  scarcely  has  the  appearance  of  being  the  conceited 
and  pompous  personage  that  his  enemy,  George  Steevens, 
makes  him  out  to  be. 

Thenceforth  his  friend  Handel  treated  only  subjects 
similar  to  L'' Allegro  or  oratorios.  As  the  value  of  such 
compositions  chiefly  consisted  in  their  choruses  and  or- 
chestration, first-rate  interpreters  could  be  more  readily 
dispensed  with  ;  and  as  they  were  written  to  English 
words,  they  addressed  themselves  to  a  more  numerous 
public,  and  permitted  the  employment  of  indigenous  art- 
ists. Perhaps,  also,  the  ruined  impressario  considered 
that  this  sort  of  composition  exposed  him  to  less  ex- 
pense ;  for  with  oratorios  and  odes  there  were  no  more 
decorations,  no  more  costumes,  and  no  more  ballets. 
Finally,  he  said  that  sacred  music  "  was  best  suited  to  a 


254  LIFE     OF    HANDEL. 

man  descending  in  the  vale  of  years  ;"*  but  he  said  that 
only  after  the  failure  of  his  dramatic  compositions,  and  at 
the  bottom  of  his  heart  he  had  not  yet  bid  the  latter  an 
eternal  farewell.  We  may  be  sure  that  his  0|jeras, 
which  are  now  so  completely  forgotten,  must  be  really 
very  fine,  when  we  see  with  what  attachment  he  kept 
them  in  his  regard.  Works  that  he  was  so  fond  of  mak- 
ing must  have  been  impregnated  with  the  perfumes  of 
his  genius.  Justin^  Arminius^  and  Berenice  had  been 
the  impotent  witnesses  of  his  failure  ;  Faramondo  and 
^Xerxes  had  failed  so  utterly  that  Heidegger  closed  the 
theater  for  the  second  time,  and,  under  the  circum- 
stances, there  was  no  prospect  of  its  being  reopened  for 
some  time. 

As  it  has  been  stated,  Handel  then  set  to  work  upon 
Saul ;  but,  after  the  completion  of  the  first  two  acts,  he 
took  up  suddenly  the  opera  of  Imeneo^  and  it  was  only 
after  having  given  himself  the  satisfaction  of  writing  the 
three  acts  of  that,  that  he  returned  to  the  oratorio.  We 
may  follow  this  curious  movement  of  his  mind,  by  ob- 
serving the  dates  of  the  two  MSS.f  In  fact,  it  was  only 
after  reiterated  failures  that  he  renounced  his  dear 
operas,  and  when  he  was  forced  to  confess  that  the 
public  decidedly  refused  to  follow  him  upon  that  ground. 
He  was  about  to  sufier  the  last  proof  of  that  determina- 
tion. 

On  the  8th  of  November,  1740,  he  took  the  theater  at 
Lincoln's  Inn  Fields  for  the  season,  and  opened  it  with  a 
revival  oi  Parnasso  i7i  Festa  ;  giving  afterward  Imeneo 
(Hymen),  for  which  he  had  abandoned  Said.  Hymen 
(produced  on  the  22d  of  November)  enjoyed  precisely 
one  representation  less  than  it  numbered  acts  !  Handel 
replaced  it  by  FAllegro^  and  calmly  finished  another 
opera,  Deidamia^  which  he  produced  on  the  10th  of 
January,  1741.  But  the  resistance  of  the  pubhc  was 
quite  equal  to  the  tenacity  of  the  artist,  and  he  was  com- 
*  Hawkins.  +  See  "  Catalogue." 


"hymen"   and   "deiuamia."  255 

pelled  to  put  Deidamia  upon  the  slielf,  after  its  third 
representation.  ^ 

I  can  not  believe  that  Hymen  deserved  its  fate.  Han- 
del at  any  rate  did  not  submit  to  it,  for  it  is  the  only  one 
of  his  Italian  operas  that  he  took  with  him  into  Ireland, 
and  it  was  sung  there  twice  in  the  manner  of  a  serenata. 
As  for  Deidamia,,  in  the  analysis  which  Burney  makes 
of  it,  the  w^ord  "  admirable"  occurs  in  every  line.  The 
march  in  the  overture  is  pai-ticularly  mentioned,  and  Mr. 
Lacy  says  that  the  final  chorus,  "  Non  trascurate,  amanti," 
is  incontestably  one  of  the  finest  works  of  that  kind 
which  the  master  has  produced. 

The  season  of  1740-41,  which  opened  on  the  9th  of 
November,  in  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields,  terminated  on  the 
7th  of  April*  It  had  been  disastrous  ;  but  nothing 
could  make  Handel  forget  the  duty  w^hich  he  seems  to 
have  imposed  upon  himself,  of  giving  the  annual  per- 
formance for  the  benefit  of  his  brethren  in  distress.  In 
order  to  make  it  all  the  more  profitable,  he  gave  it,  on 
the  14th  of  March,  at  the  great  theater  in  the  Hay- 
market.  The  London  Daily  Post  announced  : — "  For 
the  benefit  and  increase  of  a  fund  established  for  the 
support  of  decayed  musicians  and  their  families,  at  the 
King's  Theater,  on  Saturday  next  (14th)  will  be  per- 
formed, with  the  original  scenes  and  habits,  Parnasso  in 
Festa,  composed  by  Mr.  Handel  for  her  royal  highness 
the  Princess  of  Orange's  wedding." 

On  the  8th  of  April  following,  the  noble  composer 
gave  a  species  of  farewell  performance,   consisting  of 

*  Performances  during  the  season,  1740-41 : 

November  8th,  1740 — Parnasso. 

November  22cl  and  December  13th — ilymen. 

January  10th  and  17th,  1741 — Deidamia. 

January  31st  and  February  7ih—L' Allegro. 

Februaiy  10th — Deidanim. 

February  21st — L'' Allegro. 

February  28th  and  March  14th — Acts  and  Dryden's  Ode. 

March  18th — Saul. 

April  8th — L' Allegro  and  Dryden's  Ode. 


256  LIFE    OF    HANDEL. 

JjAlkgro  and  the  Ode  for  St.  Cecilia's  Day:^  The 
London  Daily  Post  of  the  day  announced  : — "  This 
being  the  last  time  of  performing,  many  persons  of 
quahty  and  others  are  pleased  to  make  great  demands 
for  box  tickets,  which  en<^'0urages  me  (and  I  hope  it  will 
not  give  offence)  to  put  the  pit  and  boxes  together  at 
half  a  guinea  each.  First  gallery,  live  shillings ;  second 
gallery,  three."  The  poor  great  man  was  obliged  to 
make  money  out  of  every  thing. 

In  connection  with  this  representation,  which  was 
advertised  many  days  in  advance,  the  London  Daily 
Post  of  the  4th  of  April,  1741,  inserted  a  very  long  let- 
ter, signed  J.  B.,  which  gives  us  many  indications  as  to 
the  situation  of  Handel.  The  correspondent  commences 
by  a  sort  of  essay  upon  the  power  of  music,  in  which  he 
goes  as  lar  back  as  the  Deluge,  and  quotes  Orpheus, 
Timotheus,  and  ten  others ;  then  he  arrives  at  his  sub- 
ject : — "  At  this  time,"  says  he,  "  when  it  is  become  a 
fashion  to  neglect  Mr.  Handel  (unknown  as  his  person  is 
to  me),  I  will  recall  Cotsoni,  Faustina,  Cenosini  (sic)^ 
that  he  had  in  his  time  raised  to  fame,  who  had  gained 
by  his  compositions  both  pi-aise  and  profit,  while  the 
merit  unobserved,  and  almost  unrewarded,  was  the  poor, 
but  the  i^roud  lot  of  the  forgotten  master.  *  *  * 
If  we  are  not  careful  for  him,  let  us  be  for  our  own 
credit  with  the  polite  world ;  and  if  old  age  or  infirmity, 
if  even  a  pride  so  inseparable  from  great  men,  have 
offended,  let  us  take  it  as  the  natural /b/We  of  the  great 
genius,  and  let  us  overlook  them  like  spots  upon  the  sun. 
*  *  *  You  may  by  this  time,  sir,  easily  see  wdiat  I 
mean  by  this  letter.  I  wish  I  could  urge  this  apology  to 
its  full  efiicacy,  and  persuade  the  gentlemen  of  figure 
and  weight,  who  have  taken  offense  at  any  part  of  this 
great  man's  conduct  (for  a  great  man  he  must  be  in  the 
musical  world,  whatever  misfortunes  may  now,  too  late, 

*  In  a  handbook,  in  which  these  two  works  are  united,  Moderato  (the 
third  part  of  V Allegro)  is  suppressed. 


PLAYBILLS    TORN    DOWN.  257 

say  to  the  contrary),  I  wish  I  could  persuade  them,  I  say, 
to  take  him  hack  into  favor,  and  relieve  him  from  the 
cruel  persecution  of  those  little  vermin,  who,  taking  ad- 
vantage of  their  displeasure,  pull  down  even  his  bills  as 
fast  as  he  has  them  put  up,  and  use  a  thousand  other 
little  acts  to  injure  and  distress  him.  But,  in  the  mean 
time,  let  the  public  take  care  that  he  wants  not — that 
would  be  an  unpardonable  ingratitude  ;  and  as  this  ora- 
torio of  Wednesday  next  is  his  last  for  the  season,  and, 
if  report  be  true,  probably  his  last  for  ever  in  this  coun- 
try, let  them,  with  a  generous  and  friendly  benevolence, 
fill  his  last  house,  and  show  him  on  his  departure,  that 
London,  the  greatest  and  richest  city  in  the  world,  is 
great  and  rich  in  virtue  as  well  as  in  money,  and  can 
l^ardon  and  forget  the  failings,  or  even  the  faults  of  a 
great  genius,"  etc.,  etc. 

However  excellent  in  intention,  this  begging  letter,  in 
which  Handel  is  treated  as  if  he  were  blameable,  must 
have  greatly  excited  his  anger.  But  it  is  curious  to 
gather  from  it  to  what  a  pitch  "  the  gentlemen  of  figure 
and  weight"  were  excited  against  him.  The  tearing 
down  of  the  bills  as  soon  as  they  were  posted,  is  a  detail 
which  has  a  bad  look,  and  is  certainly  not  without  weight. 
We  may  guess,  also,  that  Handel  was  irritated,  since  he 
resolved  to  quit  the  land  of  his  adoption,  and  in  that 
case  Ireland,  Avhither  he  went  shortly  afterward,  may 
claim  the  honor  of  having  preserved  him  to  Great  Britain, 
by  restoring  him  to  sufticient  confidence  to  enable  him  to 
engage  in  new  efi:brts. 

But  although  (thanks  to  the  animosity  of  the  richer 
classes)  he  made  little  profit  for  himself  out  of  his  own 
works,  other  people  did  not  neglect  to  make  their  market 
of  them.  The  London  Daily  Post  of  the  14th  of 
March,  1741,  announces,  for  the  benefit  of  Mrs.  Clive, 
"a  comedy,  called  the  Universal  Passion,  altered  from 
Shakespeare,  with  entertainments  of  singing  and  danc- 
ing, and  particularly  the  favorite  airs  of  IJ' Allegro  and 


258  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

n  Penseroso^  composed  by  Mr.  Handel."  Mrs.  Clive 
was  occasionally  one  of  his  singers.  He  wrote  a  song 
especially  for  her — "  I  like  the  amorous  youth" — which 
she  sung  in  that  gallimaufry  which  was  produced  about 
1736  or  1737. 

The  failure  of  Hymen  and  Deidamia^  which  was  as 
complete  as  the  others,  was  a  lesson  by  which  Handel 
profited.  At  last  he  recognized  that  John  Bull  (as  the 
British  nation  is  vulgarly  called)  had  not  yet  the  taste 
for  that  species  of  music,  and  he  renounced  it  for  ever. 
Up  to  that  time  he  had  written  thirty-nine  Italian  operas, 
all  in  three  acts,  of  which  thirty-six  had  been  produced 
in  England.  The  list  of  these  will  be  found  in  the 
"  Catalogue."  In  this  number  I  do  not  include  Orestes^ 
Alexander  Severus,  or  Lucius  Verus^  which  are  pure 
pasticcios;  nor  Terpsicliore^  which  is  a  ballet  inter- 
mingled with  songs  ;  nor  Parnasso  in  Festa^  which  is  a 
serenata. 

In  spite  of  the  experiments  which  had  been  lately 
tried.  Lord  Middlesex  was  the  next  to  rise  to  the  tempt- 
ing bait  of  Italian  opera.  In  1741,  this  nobleman,  in 
association  w^ith  some  of  his  friends,  was  not  afraid  to  be- 
come an  impressario,  collected  a  new  company,  brought 
over  Galuppi,  as  director  and  comj^oser,  and  at  great  ex- 
pense reopened  the  Haymarket  on  the  31st  of  October, 
with  Alessandro  in  Persia^  a  pasticcio,  made  by  Galuppi 
from  the  works  of  Leo,  Hasse,  Pescetti,  and  Domenico 
Scarlatti.* 

Horace  AValpole  informs  us,  in  amusing  terms,  as  to 
the  means  of  obtaining  success  with  which  Lord  Mid- 
dlesex provided  himself: — "  Dovming -street^  Oct.  8, 1741, 
O.  S. — The  opera  begins  the  day  after  the  king's  birth- 
day. The  singers  are  not  permitted  to  sing  till  on  the 
stage,  so  no  one  has  heard  them.  The  opera  is  to  be  in 
the  French  system  of  dances,  scenes,  and  dresses.  The 
directors  have  already  laid  out  great  sums.  They  talk 
*  Burney,  page  445. 


LORD  MIDDLESEX  MANAGER.       '259 

of  a  mob  to  silence  the  operas,  as  they  did  the  French 
players,  but  it  will  be  more  difficult,  for  here  half  the 
young  noblemen  in  town  are  engaged,  and  they  will  not 
be  easily  persuaded  to  humor  the  taste  of  the  mobility. 
In  short,  they  have  already  retained  several  eminent 
lawyers  from  the  Bear  Gardens  to  plead  their  defense." 

The  Bear  Gardens  was  a  resort  for  boxers.  It  is 
evident  that  the  young  scions  of  nobility  of  that  time 
did  not  resort  to  half  measures.  Whatever  well-born 
persons  undertake,  they  impart  into  it  an  elegance  of 
form  which  disguises  all  defects  of  the  substance. 

According  to  Mainwaring,'*'  and  to  IIavvkins,f  Fara- 
mondo  and  Alexander  Severus  were  composed  for  Lord 
Middlesex,  who  paid  £1000  for  them;  but  we  have  the 
positive  dates  of  their  production  in  1737  and  1738,  and 
that  of  the  entrance  of  that  lord  upon  the  functions  of 
an  impressario.J  Horace  Walpole's  letter  is  also  confirm- 
atory of  these  facts.  The  argu?7ienta  ad  hominem  of  the 
"  eminent  lawyers  from  the  Bear  Gardens"  did  not  suc- 
ceed in  attracting  "the  mobility"  to  the  opera,  and  Lord 
Middlesex  was  obliged  to  abandon  it  in  1744.  He  and 
his  friends  returned  to  the  charge  in  1747,  but  they  were 
again  compelled  to  close  the  fatal  theater  in  May,  1748, 
after  having  suffered  considerable  losses.  Lord  Middle- 
sex did  not  even  retire  from  the  business  without  trou- 
ble. The  Gentlemari's  Magazine  for  November,  1748, 
says : — "  Was  tried  at  the  King's  Bench,  a  cause,  wherein 
an  Italian  singer  was  plaintiff,  and  a  person  of  distinction 
defendant :  the  action  was  laid  for  a  1000  guineas,  for 
one  winter's  performance  at  the  Opera  House,  and  the 
jury  gave  a  verdict  for  the  plaintiff." 

In  1750,  Dr.  Croza,  who  had  made  the  operatic  ex- 

*  Page  124.  t  Page  338. 

X  "  Last  Saturday  (31  October)  the  operas  began  in  the  Haymarket. 
There  was  a  prodigious  audience,  and  a  prodigious  expense  ;  for  it  is 
said  the  whole  charge  for  six  months  will  come  to  upwards  of  £16,000." 
— Faulk n.er'^s  Journal^  of  the  17th  to  tlie  21st  of  November,  1741,  quoted 
by  Mr.  Townsend. 


260  LIFE    OP    HANDEL. 

periment,  disappeared,  leaving  behind  him  innumerable 
creditors;  and  on  the  loth  of  May,  an  advertisement 
appeared  in  the  Daily  Advertiser^  signed  Henry  Gibbs, 
tea  merchant,  offering  "  £30  to  any  one  who  would  se- 
cure the  person  of  Dr.  Croza."* 

Such  was  the  lot  of  all  the  speculators  at  the  Haymar- 
ket.  Bnrneysays: — "The  English  appetite  for  Italian 
friandises  was  certainly  palled  by  plenitude.  Public 
curiosity  being  satisfied,  as  to  new  compositions  and 
singers,  the  English  returned  to  their  homely  food,  The 
JBeggar'^s  Opera^  and  ballad  farces  on  the  same  plan, 
with  eagerness  and  comfort."  This  dictum  is  very  se- 
vere, and,  in  my  opinion,  it  would  be  more  fit  to  say  that 
the  grace  and  lightness  which  characterize  the  greater 
proportion  of  Italian  music,  and  make  of  it  an  almost 
sensual  pleasure  rather  than  a  recreation  of  the  intelli- 
gence, do  not  accord  with  the  powerful  but  not  delicate 
character  of  the  English.  They  do  not  know  how  to 
take  any  thing  at  the  finger's  end ;  and,  to  continue  Bar- 
ney's gastronomic  figure,  it  may  be  said  that  they  re- 
quire roast  beef  even  in  music.  But,  musically  speaking, 
roast  beef  is  worth  all  the  friandises  in  the  world. 
Italian  opera  seems  to  have  been  always  much  less  a 
taste  than  a  fashion  on  the  banks  of  the  Thames.  It  has 
never  enjoyed  there  any  but  a  sickly  life,  like  that  of  an 
exotic.  How  many  speculators  has  it  not  ruined  ?  In 
the  present  day,  it  is  only  supported  by  fashion,  and  the 
large  number  of  wealthy  sti'angers  who  abound  in  such 
cities  as  London  and  Paris.  To  prove  how  factitious  is 
the  audience,  it  is  only  necessary  to  mention  the  exceed- 
ingly high  25rices  for  admission,  and  the  regulation  that  a 
frock  coat  can  not  be  admitted  even  into  the  pit.  The 
free  Briton  who  does  not  possess  a  dress-coat  is  forbidden 
to  listen  to  an  Italian  song.  Let  it  be  added,  that  among 
tliese  people,  who  with  such  obstinacy  reproach  the 
French  with  inconstancy,  the  operas  which  then  obtained 
*  Burney. 


NUMBER    OF    REPRESENTATIONS.  261 

the  greatest  amount  of  success  never,  even  counting  re- 
vivals, went  beyond  twenty-five  or  thirty  representa- 
tions !  The  Artaxerxes  of  Hasse,  sung  by  Farinelli, 
Senesino,  Montagnana,  and  Signora  Cuzzoni  (the  finest 
collection  of  the  artists  of  the  epoch),  is  quoted  as  a 
prodigy  for  having  exceeded  forty  representations  in 
three  years.  Among  the  volatile  French,  on  the  con- 
trary, the  Castor  and  Pollux  of  Rameau,  produced  in 
1737,  held  possession  of  the  stage  when  Gluck  arrived  in 
1746  ;  Gluck,  Avhose  Orpheus^  Alceste,  Armide^  and  Iphi- 
genie  en  Tauride  numbered  more  than  a  hundred  rep- 
resentations during  his  lifetime. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

1741—1742. 

Journey  to  Ireland— Pope  and  Handel— A  Letter  by  Handel — Peeform- 
ANCEs  at  Dublin— "The  Messiah"— Noble  Use  which  the  Author  made 
OF  that  Work. 

The  league  wliich  was  banded  against  Handel  was  so 
powerful,  that  for  three  years  his  efforts  to  win  fortune 
back  were  entirely  thrown  away.  Even  his  finest  En- 
glish works  did  not  escape  this  fatal  destiny.  In  spite  of 
his  courage  and  activity,  both  of  which  were  immense, 
and  indefatigable  as  his  genius,  he  could  not  retrieve 
himself  from  ruin.     The  position  was  a  cruel  one. 

For  a  long  time  he  had  been  wished  for  in  Ireland. 
The  Duke  of  Devonshire,  the  lord  lieutenant  (more  gen- 
erally called  viceroy  at  that  time),  had  directly  invited 
him  to  pay  a  visit  to  that  country,*  and  the  Irish  pro- 
fessed great  admiration  for  him.  The  numerous  musical 
societies  of  this  country  had  already  often  performed  his 
works.f     He  might  therefore  expect  to  find  there  a  pub- 

*  Pue's  Occurrences  (Dublin  Journal)  of  the  3d  of  February,  1742.  I 
Lave  taken  all  the  particulars,  dates,  and  quotations  of  the  journals,  rela- 
tive to  Handel's  visit  to  Dublin,  from  Mr.  Townsend's  excellent  little 
book,  which  is  minutely  founded  upon  the  most  authentic  documents. 
Mr.  Townsend  has  left  nothing  for  others  to  discover  on  the  subject  of 
this  period  of  Handel's  life.  I  heartily  fulfill  one  of  Mr.  Townsend's 
wislies,  in  recording  that  Mr.  Finlayson,  barrister-at-law  of  Dublin,  con- 
tributed a  great  part  of  the  researches  relative  to  Handel's  visit  to  Ire- 
land. Mr.  Finlayson  was  the  first  to  examine  the  collection  oi Faulkner'' s 
Journal^  which  is  in  the  old  librarj^  founded  by  Archbishop  Marsh,  and 
he  made  extracts  from  it  even  before  Mr.  Townsend  was  aware  of  the 
existence  of  that  collection.  It  was  the  kind  conuuunication  of  that  dis- 
covery which  gave  Mr.  Townsend  the  idea  of  writing  his  book,  in  which 
he  warmly  acknowledged  that  Mr.  Finlayson,  an  enthusiastic  Handelian, 
had  furnished  him  with  new  documents. 

t  Among  the  subscribers  to  the  first  edition  of  Alexander'' s  Feast,  and 


DUBLIN    MUSICAL    SOCIETIES.  263 

lie  more  enlightened,  or  at  any  rate  more  favorably  dis- 
posed than  that  of  London,  and  he  resolved  to  make  the 
journey. 

Almost  all  the  musical  societies  of  Dublin,  which  were 
composed  of  amateurs,  gave  their  entertainments  for  the 
furtherance  of  charitable  objects.  Handel  put  himself 
into  communication  with  the  most  important  of  these, 
that  "  for  the  benefit  and  enlargement  of  poor  distressed 
prisoners  for  debt  in  the  several  marshalseas  of  the  city 
of  Dublin,"  and  promised  to  give  an  oratorio  for  its 
benefit ;  the  members,  on  their  part,  promising  the  as- 
sistance of  their  chorus  and  their  orchestra.  This  so- 
ciety did  good  with  real  devotedness.  Faulkner'' s  Jour- 
nal of  the  14th  to  the  17th  of  March,  1740  (O.  S.),  says, 
that  during  the*  past  year*  they  "  have  already  released 
188  miserable  persons  of  both  sexes.  They  oflered  a 
reasonable  composition  to  the  creditors.  And  many  of 
the  creditors  being  in  circumstances  almost  equally  mis- 
erable with  their  debtors,  due  regard  was  paid  by  the 
committee  to  this  circumstance."  In  1743,  the  society 
caused  it  to  be  made  known  that  it  had  liberated  during 
the  preceding  year  a  hundred  and  forty-two  prisoners  of 
both  sexes,  whose  debts  amounted  to  £1225  I7s.,  besides 
£33  given  to  incarcerators,  who  were  quite  as  poor  as 
the  incarcerated. 

Imprisonment  for  debt,  which  is  a  relic  of  ancient  slav- 

also  of  tLat  of  the  Twelve  Grand  Concertos,  may  be  found  "  the  Academy 
of  Musick  at  Dublin,  two  copies."  This  society  had,  as  the  leader  of  its 
orchestra.  Lord  Mornington,  the  father  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  and 
among  its  violoncellos.  Lord  Bellamont,  Sir  John  Dillon,  and  Dean 
Burke,  afterward  Archbishop  of  Tuam  ;  among  the  flutes  was  Lord  Lu- 
can ;  at  the  harpsichord,  Lady  Freke,  Dr.  Quin,  and  the  Eight  Honor- 
able W.  Brownlow,  etc. —  Town-send.  There  is  in  existence  a  volume  of 
libretti  with  this  title :  "  As  they  are  performed  by  the  Pliyllmrmonic 
Society  in  Dublin,  for  the  improvement  of  church  music,  and  the  further 
support  of  Mercer's  Ilospital,  printed  in  the  year  IT^l." 

*  It  should  be  remembered  that  before  the  reform  of  the  calendar, 
which  took  place  in  England  as  late  as  1752,  the  year  ended  on  the  24:th 
of  March.  0.  S.  means  old  style,  before  the  reform,  and  N.  S.  new  style, 
after  the  reform. 


264  LIFE    OF     HANDEL. 

ery,  has  always  been  a  barbarity,  but  at  that  time  it  was 
atrocious.  The  greater  part  of  the  unhappy  prisoners 
lived  only  upon  the  public  commiseration,  Tvhich  they 
frequently  implored  through  the  medium  of  the  public 
journals,  or  otherwise.  Faulkner'' s  Journal  for  the  17th 
to  the  21st  of  March,  1740,  "  records  the  deaths  of  two 
prisoners  for  debt  in  the  Four  Courts  Marshalseas,  from 
extreme  want."* 

Handel,  who  throughout  his  life  was  full  of  humanity, 
must  have  taken  pleasure  in  arranging  with  a  society 
whose  charities  alleviated  so  much  misery.  He  composed 
The  Messiah  in  order  to  offer  to  the  Irish,  "  to  that 
generous  and  polite  nation"  (quoting  his  own  expression 
from  one  of  his  letters),  something  new ;  and  he  set  out 
about  the  4th  of  November,  1741. f 

*  Townseud,  p.  35.  At  the  same  time  as  "  the  Society  for  the  Eelease 
of  Prisoners  for  Debt"  was  in  treaty  with  Handel,  the  managers  of  Mer- 
cer's Hospital  (founded  in  1734,  by  Mrs.  Mercer)  addressed  themselves 
to  Dr.  Boyce,  "  composer  to  his  majesty."  Boyce  responded  by  writing 
expressly  for  them  an  anthem,  which  was  performed  for  the  benefit  of 
the  hospital  at  St.  Andrew's,  otherwise  called  the  Eouud  Church,  on  the 
10th  of  December,  1741,  with  the  Te  Deum,  Jubilate,  and  one  of  Handel's 
Coronation  Anthems. — Faulkner's  Journal,  December  8th  to  12th,  1741. 
Handel,  who  had  then  been  three  weeks  in  Dublin,  and  was  preparing 
his  concerts,  was  waited  upon  by  a  deputation  from  the  hospital,  who  re- 
quested him  to  play  the  organ  at  this  benefit.  A  charitable  work  never 
solicited  his  aid  in  vain. 

t  It  is  to  this  voyage,  undertaken  under  such  circumstances,  that  Pope 
makes  allusion  in  his  Dunciad,  which  was  published  in  March,  1742  : 

"  But  soon,  ah  !  soon,  rebellion  will  commence. 
If  music  meanly  borrows  aid  from  sense. 
Strong  in  new  arms,  lo !  giant  Handel  stands, 
Like  bold  Briareus,  with  his  hundred  hands ; 
To  stir,  to  rouse,  to  shake  the  soul,  he  comes, 
And  Jove's  own  thunders  follow  Mars's  drums. 
Arrest  him,  empress,  or  you  sleep  no  more — 
She  heard,  and  drove  him  to  the  Hibernian  shore." 

Here  Pope  only  gave  expression  to  the  opinion  of  his  friends.  By  a 
Bingularity  of  nature,  poet  as  he  was,  he  was  entirely  destitute  of  all 
musical  sense,  and  he  confessed  that  it  gave  him  no  pleasure.  Like  a 
character  in  Candide,  he  considered  it  as  the  least  disagreeable  of  noises : 


DEPARTURE    F  O  11    IRELAND.  2G5 

In  spite  of  every  thing,  London  permitted  the  man  of 
genius  to  depart  for  Ireland.  He  was  stayed  by  con- 
trary winds  in  the  ancient  and  picturesque  city  of  Ches- 
ter. "  I  was,"  says  Burney,  "  at  tlie  public  school  in 
Chester,  and  very  well  remember  seeing  him  smoke  a 
pipe,  over  a  dish  of  coffee,  at  th'e  Exchange  Coftee 
House ;  and  being  extremely  curious  to  see  so  extraor- 
dinary a  man,  I  w^atched  him  narrowly  as  long  as  lie  re- 
mained in  Chester,  where  he  stayed  on  account  of  the 
wind  being  unfavorable  for  his  embarking  at  Parkgate." 
Wishing  to  employ  this  delay  in  trying  over  some  pieces 
of  his  new  oratorio.  The  Messiah^  he  sought  for  some 
one  who  could  read  music  at  sight,  and  a  house-painter 
named  Janson  was  indicated  to  him,  as  one  of  the  best 
musicians  attached  to  the  cathedral.  A  meeting  took 
place,  but  poor  Janson  managed  so  badly  that  the  iras- 
cible composer  became  purple  with  anger,  and  after 
swearing,  as  was  his  wont,  in  four  or  five  languages  at  a 
time,  cried  out,  "You  schountrel!  tit  you  not  tell  me 
dat  you  could   sing  at  soite  ?"     "  Yes,  sii-,"  rejjlied  the 

and  he  would  have  entirely  agreed  with  a  witty  lady  who  was  no  great 
dilettante^  and  who,  when  the  performance  of  Baillot's  quatuors  were 
praised  to  her,  replied,  "  Ah !  yes,  the  quatuors  are  very  well ;  there  are 
four  persons  amusing  themselves."  But  when  he  saw  that  his  literary 
companions  (and  particularly  Arbuthnot)  were  such  great  admirers  of 
Handel,  he  ranged  himself  on  the  composer's  side  with  them.  Main- 
waring  relates,  that,  "  Mr.  Pope,  the  poet,  one  day  asked  his  friend  Dr. 
ArbuthDot,  of  whose  knowledge  in  music  he  had  a  high  idea,  what  was 
his  real  opinion  in  regard  to  Handel  as  a  master  of  that  science.  The 
doctor  immediately  replied,  '  Conceive  the  highest  that  you  can  of  his 
abilities,  and  they  are  much  beyond  any  thing  that  you  can  conceive.' " 

Christopher  Smith  being  sensible  that  Pope  had  no  taste  for  music, 
took  an  opportunity  of  inquiring  what  motive  could  induce  him  to  cele- 
brate Handel's  praise  so  highly  in  his  Dunciad.  Pope  replied,  "  That 
merit  in  every  branch  of  science  ought  to  be  encouraged ;  tiiat  the  ex- 
treme illiberality  with  which  many  persons  had  joined  to  ruin  Handel, 
in  opposing  his  operas,  called  furtli  his  indignation ;  and  though  nature 
had  denied  his  being  gratified  by  Handel's  uncommon  talents  in  the 
musical  line,  yet  when  his  powers  were  generally  acknowledged,  he 
thought  it  incumbent  upon  him  to  pay  a  tribute  due  to  genius." — Anec- 
dotes of  Hmulel,  page  29. 

12 


266  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

good  fellow,  "  but  not  at  first  sight.'*''  Handel  upon  this 
burst  out  laugliiDg,  and  the  rehearsal  proceeded  no  fur- 
ther.* 

He  arrived  in  Dublin  on  the  18th  November,  1741, 
which  fact  was  announced  by  Faulkner'' s  Journal  in  the 
following  manner: — "And  last  Wednesday,  the  cele- 
brated Dr.  Handell  arrived  here  in  the  packet-boat  from 
Holyhead,  a  gentleman  universally  known  by  his  excel- 
lent compositions  in  all  kinds  of  music,  and  particularly 
for  his  Te  Deum^  Jubilate^  Anthems^  and  other  composi- 
tions in  church  music  (of  which,  for  some  years  past,  have 
principally  consisted  the  entertainments  in  the  Round 
Church,  which  have  so  greatly  contributed  to  support 
the  charity  of  Mercer's  Hospital),  to  perform  his  oratorios, 
for  which  purpose  he  hath  engaged  Mr.  Maclaine,f  his 
wife,  and  several  others  of  the  best  performers  in  the 
musical  way." 

After  having  been  thus  announced,  the  "gentleman 
universally  known,"  of  whom  a  Doctor  was  made  for  the 
nonce,  announced  in  Faulkner^s  Journal  for  the  8th  to 
the  12th  of  December,!  that — "On  Monday  next,  being 
the  14th  of  December  (and  every  day  following),  at- 
tendance will  be  given  at  Mr.  Handel's  house  in  Abbey- 
street,  near  Liffey-street,  from  nine  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing till  two  in  the  afternoon,  in  order  to  receive  the  sub- 
scription money  for  his  six  musical  entertainments  in  the 
New  Music  Hall  in  Fishamble-street,  at  which  time  each 
subscriber  will  have  a  ticket  delivered  to  him,  which  en- 
titles him  to  three  tickets  each  night,  either  for  ladies  or 
gentlemen.  N.B. — Subscriptions  are  likewise  taken  in 
at  the  same  place."  Handel  proposed,  therefore,  a  sub- 
scription for  six  performances.  The  price  is  nowhere  in- 
dicated ;  but  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  it  was  half 
a  guinea  per  ticket.  Faulkne)''*s  Journal  for  the  15th 
of  December  announces  that,  on  the  23d,  1? Allegro^  It 

*  Buruey.  +  Maclaine  was  au  organist, 

X  It  only  appeared  on  Wednesdays  and  Saturdays, 


PERFORMANCES    IN    DUBLIN.  267 

Penseroso  ed II  Moderato  will  open  the  first  performanee, 
"  with  two  concertos  for  several  instruments,  and  a  con- 
certo on  the  organ.  It  will  commence  at  seven  o'clock," 
etc.  The  handbill  of  the  tifth  performance  adds,  "  none 
but  subscribers  can  be  admitted,  and  no  single  tickets 
will  be  delivered,  or  money  taken  at  the  door."  Great 
was  the  success.  The  Journal  of  the  26th  of  December 
says: — "Last  Wednesday,  Mr.  Ilandel  had  his  fii-st  ora- 
torio at  Mr.  Neal's  Music  Hall  in  Fishamble-street,  which 
was  crowded  with  a  more  numerous  and  polite  audience 
than  ever  was  seen  upon  the  like  occasion.  The  per- 
formance was  superior  to  any  thing  of  the  kind  in  the 
kingdom  before,  and  our  nobility  and  gentry,  to  show 
their  taste  for  all  kinds  of  genius,  expressed  their  great 
satisfaction,  and  have  already  given  all  imaginable  en- 
couragement to  this  grand  music." 

A  few  days  afterward,  Handel  wrote  to  Charles  Jen- 
nens  :* 

"Dublin,  December  29,  1741. 

"Sir — It  was  with  the  greatest  pleasure  I  saw  the 
continuation  of  your  kindness  by  the  lines  you  was 
pleased  to  send  me,  in  order  to  be  prefixed  to  your  ora- 
torio, 3Iessiah^\  which  I  set  to  music  before  I  left  En- 
gland. I  am  emboldened,  sir,  by  the  generous  concern 
you  please  to  take  in  relation  to^  my  afiairs,  to  give  you 
an  account  of  the  success  I  have  met  here.  The  nobility 
did  me  the  honor  to  make  among  themselves  a  subscrip- 

*  Lord  Howe,  who  is  the  possessor  of  this  letter,  and  also  of  that  which 
will  be  found  at  the  beginning  of  Chapter  IX.,  communicated  them  to 
Mr.  Townsend,  with  permission  to  print  them.  They  are  both  in 
English. 

t  The  mottoes  here  mentioned  are  the  three  following  epigraphs  : — 
"Majora  canamus,"  PolUo  Virgil  ("Let  us  sing  of  greater  things"). 
"  And  without  controversy  great  is  the  mystery  of  godhness.  God  was 
manifested  in  the  flesh,  justified  by  the  Spirit,  seen  of  angels,  preached 
among  the  Gentiles,  believed  on  in  the  world,  and  received  up  into  glory." 
— 1  Timothy  iii.  16.  "  In  whom  are  hid  all  the  treasures  of  wisdom  and 
knowledge." — Golossians  ii.  3. 


268  LIFE    OF     HANDEL. 

tion  for  six  nii>hts,  which  did  fill  a  room  of  600  persons, 
so  tluit  I  needed  not  to  sell  one  ticket  at  the  door,  and, 
AVithout  vanity,  the  jDcrformance  was  received  with  a 
general  approbation.  Signora  Avolio,  which  I  brought 
AN-ith  me  from  London,  pleases  extraordinary.  I  have 
found  another  tenor  voice  which  gives  great  satisfaction  ; 
tlie  basses  and  counter-tenors  are  very  good,  and  the  rest 
of  the  chorus  singers,  by  my  directions,  do  exceedingly 
well ;  as  for  the  instruments  they  are  really  excellent, 
Mr.  Dubourgh  being  at  the  head  of  them;  and  the  music 
sounds  delightfully  in  this  charming  room,  which  puts 
me  in  such  spirits,  and  my  health  being  so  good,  that  I 
exert  myself  on  my  organ  with  more  than  usual  success. 
I  opened  with  the  Allegro^  Penseroso^  ed  il  Moderato^ 
and  I  assure  you  that  the  words  of  the  Moderato  are 
vastly  admired.*  The  audience  being  composed — be- 
sides the  flower  of  ladies  of  distinction  and  other  people 
of  the  greatest  quality — of  so  many  bishops,  deans,  heads 
of  the  college,  and  the  most  eminent  people  in  the  law, 
as  the  chancellor,  auditor-general,  etc.,  all  of  which  are 
very  much  taken  with  the  poetry,  so  that  I  am  desired 
to  perform  it  again  the  next  time.f  I  can  not  sufficiently 
express  the  kind  treatment  I  receive  here ;  but  the  po- 
liteness of  this  generous  nation  can  not  be  unknown  to 
you,  so  I  let  you  judge  of  the  satisfaction  I  enjoy,  passing 
my  time  with  honor,  pi'ofit,  and  pleasure.  They  propose 
already  to  have  some  more  performances,  when  the  six 
nights  of  the  subscription  are  over,  and  my  lord  duke, 
the  lord  lieutenant  (who  is  always  present  with  all  his 
family  on  those  nights)  will  easily  obtain  a  longer  per- 

*  It  has  been  already  stated  that  Charles  Jeuuens  added  UModerato  to 
Milton's  poems,  L' Allegro  and  II  Penseroso. 

t  Handel  had  more  than  once  the  good  grace  to  attribute  to  the  worda 
all  the  success  of  his  music.  In  a  letter,  which  will  shortly  be  quoted, 
and  which  is  addressed  to  the  same  person,  referring  to  Ireland,  he  says, 
"  I  could  have  given  you  an  account  how  well  your  Messiah  was  received 
in  that  country." 


LETTER    TO    JENNENS.  269 

mission  for  me  by  his  majesty,*  so  that  I  shall  be  obliged 
to  make  my  stay  here  long-er  than  I  thought.  One  vc- 
qnest  I  must  make  to  you,  which  is  that  you  would  in- 
sinuate my  most  devoted  respects  to  my  Lord  and  my 
Lady  Sliat'tesbury ;  you  know  how  much  their  kind  pro- 
tection is  precious  to  me.  Sir  Windham  Knatchbull  will 
find  here  my  respectful  compliments.  You  will  increase 
my  obligations  if,  by  occasion,  you  will  present  my  hum- 
ble service  to  some  other  patrons  and  friends  of  mine.  I  ex- 
pect with  impatience  the  favor  of  your  news  concerning 
your  health  and  welfare,  of  which  I  take  a  real  share.  As 
for  the  news  of  the  operas  in  London,  I  need  not  trouble 
you,  for  all  this  town  is  full  of  their  ill  success,  by  a  num- 
ber of  letters  from  your  quarters  to  the  people  of  quality 
here,  and  I  can't  help  saying  but  that  it  furnishes  great 
diversion  and  laughter.  The  lirst  opera  I  heard  myself 
before  I  left  London,  and  it  made  me  very  merry  all 
along  my  journey  ;  and  of  the  second,  opera,  called  I^e- 
nelope^\  a  certain  nobleman  writes  very  jocosely: — 'II 
faut  que  je  dise  avec  harlequin,  notre  Penelope  n'est 
qu'une  ^allope.''\  But  I  think  I  have  trespassed  too 
much  on  your  patience.  I  beg  you  to  be  persuaded  of 
the  sincere  veneration  and  esteem  with  which  I  have  the 
honor  to  be,  sir,  your  most  obliged  and  most  humble 
servant,  George  Frederic  Handel." 


*  Handel  doubtless  coutinued  to  give  lessons  on  the  liarpsicliord  to 
Bome  member  of  the  royal  family,  since  he  required  the  king's  permis- 
sion to  absent  himself.  Dr.  Kimbault  has  found  the  following  entry  in 
the  "Accounts  kept  of  the  establishment  of  their  royal  highnesses  the 
Princesses  Amelia  and  Caroline,"  the  daughters  of  George  the  Second, 
in  1737: — "Musick  master,  Mr.  George  Frederic  Handel,  £200  per  an- 
num."— Chamberlayne's  Magnce,  Briannuje  Nbtltla,  1737. 

t  Penelope  was  of  Galuppi,  and  was  only  performed  five  times.  It  will 
be  remembered  that  the  Italian  theater  was  reopened  in  the  month  of 
October  by  Lord  Middlesex,  with  Alexander  in  Persia,  a  pasticcio.  It 
was  this  pasticcio  which  amused  the  rancor  entertained  by  the  author 
of  Hymen  and  Deidamia. 

X  [Our  Penelope  is  but  a  slut.]  In  French,  the  word  salope  is  of  the 
lowest  vulgarity. 


270  LIFE     OF    HANDEL. 

Tlie  correspondent  of  Charles  Jennens  gave,  therefore, 
from  the  23d  of  December  to  the  Vth  April,  1742,  two 
series  of  six  concerts  each,  which  brought  him  in  a  o-reat 
deal  both  of  honor,  of  pleasure,  and  of  money.*  They 
consisted  of  Acis,  Z^ Allegro,  Dryden's  Ode,  Alexander'^ s 
Feast,  Esther,  and  Hytnen,  which  Handel  offered  as  a 
serenata.  He  had,  for  that  purj^ose,  shortened  the 
recitatives,  and  reduced  the  three  acts  into  two  parts.f 

The  expenses  of  these  entertainments  could  not  have 
been  considerable  ;  for,  according  to  the  discoveries  of 
Mr.  Townsend,  he  obtained  the  assistance  not  only  of  the 
Society  for  the  Relief  of  Prisoners,  but  also  of  the  Phil- 
harmonic Society  (which  was  devoted  to  the  support  of 
Mercer's  Hospital),   and  even  of  the  choristers  of  the 

*  Performances  at  Dublin — First  Series : 

L' Allegro^  with  two  concertos  for  several  instruments,  and  an  organ 
concerto,  23d  of  December,  1741. 

V Allegro^  with  two  concertos  for  several  instruments,  and  an  organ 
concerto,  13th  of  January,  1742. 

Ads  and  Dryden's  Ode^  with  several  concertos  on  the  organ  and  other 
instruments,  20th  of  January. 

Acis  and  Dryden's  Ode^  with  several  concertos  on  the  organ  and  other 
instruments,  27th  of  January. 

Esther^  with  additions,  and  several  concertos  on  the  organ  and  other  in- 
struments, 3d  of  February. 

Esther,  with,  additions,  and  several  concertos  on  the  organ  and  other 
instruments,  10th  of  February. 

Second  Series: 

Alexander's  Feast,  with  additions,  and  several  concertos  on  the  organ, 
17th  of  February. 

Alexander'^s  Feast,  with  additions,  and  several  concertos  on  the  organ, 
2d  of  March. 

U  Allegro,  with  concertos,  17th  of  March. 

Hymen  (under  the  title  of  a  serenata),  with  concertos  on  the  organ  and 
other  instruments,  24th  of  March. 

Hymen,  with  concertos  on  the  organ  and  other  instruments,  31st  of 
March. 

Supplemental  Performances : 

Esther,  with  concertos  on  the  organ,  7th  of  April. 

General  rehearsal  of  the  Messiah,  8th  of  April. 

Messiah,  a  new  grand  sacred  oratorio,  13th  of  April. 

Saul,  with  concertos  on  the  organ,  25th  of  May. 

Messiah,  with  concertos  on  the  organ,  Sd  of  June. 

t  See  "  Catalogue." 


"the    MESSIAH."  271 

catliedrals  of  Christ's  CInii-ch  dikI  St.  Patrick's.  In  re- 
turn, the  institutions  protecttd  by  eaeli  society  received 
a  share  of  the  proceeds  of  tlie  performance,  whicli  lian- 
del  gave  afterward  for  their  benefit. 

It  was  after  these  twelve  performances  tliat,  on  the 
mid-day  of  Tuesday,  the  13th  of  April,  1742,  The  Mes- 
siah was  heard  for  the  first  time.  The  name  never  ap- 
peared in  print  before  the  following  advertisement  was 
inserted  in  Mmlkner^s  Journal  for  the  23d  to  the  27th 
of  March  : — "  For  the  relief  of  the  prisoners  in  the  sev- 
eral jails,  and  for  the  support  of  Mercer's  Hosi)ital  in 
Stephen's-street,  and  of  the  charitable  infirmary  on  the 
Inn's  Quay,  on  Monday,  the  12th  of  April,  wall  be  per- 
formed at  the  Musick  Hall,  in  Fish  amble-street,  Mr. 
Handel's  new  grand  oratorio,  called  The  Messiah^  in 
wdiich  the  gentlemen  of  the  choirs  of  both  cathedrals 
will  assist,  with  some  concertos  on  the  organ,  by  Mr. 
Handel.  Tickets  to  be  had  at  the  Musick  Plall,  and  at 
Mr.  Neal's  in  Christ  Church  Yard,  at  half  a  guinea 
each.  N.  B. — No  person  will  be  admitted  to  the  re- 
hearsal without  a  rehearsal  ticket,  which  will  be  given 
gratis  with  the  ticket  for  the  performance  when  paid 
for."  It  is  here  specified  that  the  concertos  on  the  or- 
gan will  be  executed  by  "  Mr.  Handel ;"  but  this  was 
probably  also  the  case  at  the  preceding  performances. 
Handel  himself  says,  in  his  letter,  *'I  exeit  myself  on  my 
organ  with  more  than  usual  success." 

Faulhner^s  Journal  for  the  6th  to  the  10th  of  April 
gives  the  following  account  of  the  rehearsal : — "  Yester- 
day, Mr.  Handel's  new  grand  sacred  oratorio,  called  The 
Messiah^  was  rehearsed  at  the  Musick  Hall,  in  Fishamble- 
street,  to  a  most  grand,  polite,  and  crowded  audience  ; 
and  was  performed  so  well  that  it  gave  universal  satis- 
faction to  all  present;  and  was  allowed  by  the  greatest 
judges,  to  be  the  finest  composition  of  music  that  ever 
was  heard,  and  the  sacred  words  as  properly  adapted  for 
the   occasion.     N.B. — At  the  desire  of  several  persons 


272  LIFE    OF    HANDEL. 

of  distinction,  the  above  performance  is  put  off  to  Tues- 
day next.  The  doors  will  be  opened  at  eleven,  and  the 
performances  begin  at  twelve.  Many  ladies  and  gentle- 
men who  are  well-wishers  to  this  noble  and  grand  cliar- 
ity,  for  which  this  oratorio  was  composed,  request  it  as  a 
favor,  that  the  ladies  who  honor  this  performance  with 
their  presence  would  be  pleased  to  come  without  hoops, 
as  it  would  greatly  increase  the  charity  by  making  room 
for  more  company," 

The  Duhlin.  News  Letter  for  the  6th  to  the  10th  of 
April  says  : — "  Yesterday  morning  at  the  Music  Hall  in 
Fishamble-street,  there  was  a  public  rehearsal  of  T1ie 
Messiah^  Mi-.  Handel's  new  sacred  oratorio,  which,  in 
the  opinion  of  tlie  best  judges,  far  surpasses  any  thing  of 
that  nature  which  has  been  performed  in  this  or  any 
kingdom.  This  eleoant  entertainment  w^as  conducted  in 
the  most  regular  manner,  and  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of 
the  most  crowded  and  polite  assembly.  For  the  benefit 
of  three  very  important  public  charities,  there  will  be  a 
grand  performance  of  this  oratorio  on  Tuesday  next,  in 
the  forenoon  ;  the  doors  will  be  opened  at  eleven,  and 
the  performance  begins  at  twelve  o'clock.  N.B. — At 
the  desire  of  several  persons  of  distinction,  Monday  be- 
ing cathedral  day,  the  performance  is  put  off  till  Tues- 
day." 

On  the  morning  after  the  musical  solemnity,  Faidkner^s 
Journal^  the  Dublin  Gazette^  and  the  Dublin  News  Det- 
ter  published  uniformly  the  following  account  of  the  per- 
formance, which  had  evidently  been  sent  to  them.  I 
give  it  literally  : — "  On  Tuesday  last,  Mr.  Handel's  sacred 
grand  oratorio,  The  3Iessiah^  was  performed  in  the  New 
Music  Hall  in  Fishamble-street ;  the  best  judges  allowed 
it  to  be  the  most  finislied  piece  of  music.  Words  are 
wanting  to  express  the  exquisite  delight  it  afforded  to  the 
admiring  crowded  audience.  The  sublime,  the  grand, 
and  the  tender,  adapted  to  the  most  elevated,  majestic, 
and  moving  words,  conspired  to  transport  and  charm  the 


"the   MESSIAH."  273 

ravished  heart  and  ear.  It  is  but  justice  to  Mr.  Handel, 
that  the  world  should  know  he  generously  gave  the 
money  arising  from  this  grand  pertbrniance  to  be  equally 
sliared  by  the  Society  lor  Relieving  Prisoners,  the  Chari- 
table Intirmary,*  and  Mercer's  Hospital,  for  which  they 
will  ever  gratefully  remember  his  name ;  and  that  the 
gentlemen  of  the  two  choirs,  Mr.  Dubourg,  Mrs.  Avolio, 
and  Mrs.  Gibber,  who  all  performed  their  parts  to  admi- 
ration, acted  also  on  the  same  disinterested  principle, 
satisfied  with  the  deserved  applause  of  the  public,  and 
the  conscious  pleasure  of  promoting  such  useful  and  ex- 
tensive charity.  There  were  above  seven  hundred  peo- 
ple in  the  room,  and  the  sum  collected  amounted  to 
about  £400,  out  of  which  £127  goes  to  each  of  the  three 
great  and  pious  charities." 

Mrs.  Gibber  has  left,  in  The  Messiah^  the  souvenirs  of 
an  incomparable  pathos.  An  old  albiwn,  containing  cut- 
tings from  the  journals,  and  entitled  "  Fragmenta,"  which 
is  in  the  library  of  the  British  Museum,  has,  among 
others,  the  following  anecdote:  "Mrs.  Gibber,  in  The 
Messiah^  in  Dublin,  executed  her  air  so  pathetically, 
that  Dr.  Delany,  the  great  friend  and  companion  of 
Swift,  exclaimed,  as  he  sat  in  the  boxes,  '  Woman,  for 
this,  be  all  thy  sins  forgiven.'  "  This  anecdote  is  taken 
out  of  a  journal,  of  which  the  collector  gives  neither  the 
name  nor  the  date. 

A  second  performance  being  immediately  demanded. 
The  Jlessiah  was  sung  once  more  in  Dublin,  with  the  ad- 
dition of  organ  concertos,  on  the  3d  of  June  following, 
being  "  the  last  of  Mr.  Handel's  performances  during 
his  stay  in  the  kingdom."  At  the  request  "of  many  per- 
sons of  the  nobility,"  he  had  given  Saul  during  the  in- 
terval, on  the  25th  of  May,  "  with  the  organ  conceitos, 
tickets  half  a  guinea." 

Let  it  be  recorded,  as  a  matter  of  detail,  that  at  every 
important  performance,  the  advertisement  beseeches  the 
*  Founded  in  1726,  at  the  expense  of  six  surgeons. 
12* 


274  LIFE    OF     HAXDEL. 

ladies  to  come  without  their  hoops.  This  fashion  seemed 
even  to  cotemporaries  to  be  as  troublesome  as  it  was 
ridiculous.  In  Faul/xNer^s  Journal^  from  the  31st  of 
January  to  the  4th  of  February,  1744,  the  committee  of 
the  Charitable  Musical  Society,  in  announcing  The  3fes- 
siah  for  tlie  7th,  once  more  entreats  the  ladies  "  to  lay 
aside  their  lioops,"  representing  that  if  they  will  aban- 
don that  fashion  "  for  one  evening,  however  ornamental, 
the  hall  will  contain  a  hundred  persons  more,  with  full 
ease."  When  the  Festival  of  the  1st  of  May,  1790,  took 
place  at  Westminster,  a  handbill,  signed  "  John  Ashley, 
by  order  of  the  Directors,"  containing  the  regulations 
for  the  carriages  and  other  encumbrances,  stated  also, 
"  no  ladies  will  be  admitted  with  hats,  and  they  are  par- 
ticularly requested  to  come  without  feathers,  and  very 
small  hoops,  if  any."  It  seems  as  if  these  fashionable 
folUes  were  chronic,  for  a  similar  announcement  by  the 
Sacred  Harmonic  Society,  apropos  of  crinolines,  would 
not  be  out  of  place  at  the  present  time.* 

Handel's  journey  to  Ireland  was  one  of  the  most  agree- 
able episodes  of  his  life.  In  addition  to  the  profits  which 
he  derived  from  it,  he  was  received  everywhere  with 
cordiality.  An  Irishman  related  to  Burney  that  "  there 
were  many  noble  families  there  with  whom  Mr.  Handel 
lived  in  the  utmost  degree  of  friendship  and  familiarity." 
During  his  stay,  he  indulged  in  a  short  period  of  repose. 
Although  he  gave  his  last  entertainment  on  the  3d  of 
June,  he  left  Ireland  only  on  the  13th  of  August,  after  a 
sojourn  of  nine  months,  leaving  to  that  noble  country 
the  glory  of  having  worthily  appreciated  all  his  master- 
pieces, and  of  having  recommenced  his  fortune. 

His  departure  was  mentioned  in  the  journals.  The 
Dublin  News  Letter  for  the  10th  to  the  14th  of  August, 
1742,  announced  :  "  Yesterday,  the  Right  Hon.  the  Lady 
King,  the  celebrated  Mr.  Handel,  and  several  other  per- 
sons of  distinction,  embarked  on  board  one  of  the  Ches- 
*  See  Appendix  P. 


"forest   music."  275 

ter  traders  in  order  to  go  to  Park  Gate."  And  in  Paulk- 
ner^s  Journal  for  the  14th  to  the  17th  of  August — "Last 
week,  Lady  King,  widow  of  the  late  Rt.  Hon.  Sir  Harry- 
King,  Bart.,  and  the  celebrated  Mr.  Handel,  so  famous 
for  his  excellent  compositions  and  fine  performances, 
M'itli  which  he  entertained  this  town  in  the  most  agreea- 
ble manner,  embarked  for  England." 

"  Ce  Monsieur — de  Faulkner — ^tuit  un  fort  brave  homme." — Le  Joueur. 

\  In  spite  of  his  long  sojourn  in  Ireland,  we  are  informed 
by  Mr.  Townsend  that  Handel  printed  nothing  while  he 
was  there.  The  only  thing  which  he  appears  to  have 
composed  there  is  a  little  piece  for  the  harpsichord,  called 
Forest  Music,  Mr.  Townsend  heard  mention  made  of 
this  for  the  first  time  in  1851,  from  an  old  lady  who  gave 
him  a  copy.  Handel  had  wiitten  it  for  a  person  who 
was  a  friend  of  this  old  lady.  He  then  discovered  that 
Dr.  Petrie,  an  eminent  Irish  antiquary,  and  a  great  col- 
lector of  national  ballads,  possessed  a  copy  of  Forest 
3fusiCj  which  had  been  commtmicated  to  him  fifty  years 
before  as  being  by  Handel.  This  little  piece  may  there- 
fore be  confidently  accepted,  although  the  MS.  is  lost. 
Moreover,  the  manner  of  the  master  is  to  be  recognized 
in  it.  The  first  movement  is  a  joyous  reveillee^  like  that 
of  hunters  going  to  the  foi-est.  In  the  second  is  an  imi- 
tation of  the  Irish  national  music.  "  It  would  seem," 
says  Mr.  Townsend,  "as  if,  by  interweaving  the  national 
music  of  Ireland  with  his  own,  he  meant  to  pay  a  grace- 
ful compliment  to  the  country  where  he  was  receiving 
a  very  cordial  welcome." 

Since  the  publication  of  Mr.  Townsend's  book  has 
brought  Forest  Music  back  to  recollection,  it  has  been 
published  in  Dublin  by  Mr.  John  Smith,  and  in  London 
by  Mr.  Lonsdale,  arranged  for  the  piano.  It  had  already 
been  published  in  Dublin  twenty-five  or  thirty  years  ago, 
"  with  full  parts  for  a  military  band^ 


2^6  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

I  shall  return  to  the  Life  of  Handel  in  the  following 
chapter ;  but  for  the  present,  1  propose  to  follow  the 
history  of  The  Messiah.  On  his  return  to  the  English 
capital,  Handel  gave  it  three  times  at  Covent  Garden, 
during  the  season  of  1743,  on  the  23d,  the  25th,  and  the 
29th  of  March.-*  At  tliat  time,  and  up  to  1749,  he  an- 
nounced it  by  no  other  title  than  "a  sacred  oratorio." 
Some  say  that  he  adopted  that  designation  "because  the 
words  are  taken  literally  from  the  Holy  Scriptures." 
This  can  not  be  so ;  because  he  had  not  concealed  the 
name  at  Dublin,  and  Israel  in  Egypt.^  which  is  in  the 
same  case,  always  appeared  under  its  real  title.  He  was 
afraid,  we  must  believe,  lest  by  the  assistance  of  the 
powerful  enemies  which  were  banded  against  him,  the 
hypocrites  might  be  able  to  arouse  some  scandal  on  see- 
ing the  name  of  Tlie  Messiah  upon  a  play-bill.  But  if 
so,  the  precaution  did  not  save  him ;  for  we  still  can  dis- 
cover traces  of  this  new  obstacle  which  was  raised  up 
against  him.  ^\\q  Daily  Advertiser  of  the  3 1st  of 
March,  1743,  contains  the  following  lines  : 

"  Wrote  extempore  by  a  gentleman,  on  reading  the  Universal  Spectator, 
on  Mr,  Handel's  new  oratorio,  performed  at  the  Theater  Eoyal  in 
Covent  Garden. 

"  Cease,  zealots,  cease  to  blame  these  heavenly  lays, 
For  seraphs  fit  to  sing  Messiah's  praise, 
Nor  for  your  trivial  argument  assign 
The  theater  not  fit  for  praise  divine  ! 
These  hallowed  lays  to  music  give  new  grace, 
To  virtue  awe,  and  sanctify  the  place, 
To  harmony  like  his  celestial  power  is  given, 
To  exalt  the  soul  from  earth,  and  make  of  hell  a  heaven." 

The  Universal  Spectator^  which  I  have  not  been  able 
to  consult,  had  evidently  accused  the  composer  of  sacri- 
lege at  least,  and  Handel  had  perhaps  been  compelled  to 
retreat  before  the  outcries  of  false  devotees.  Many 
years  afterward,  when  he  was  master  of  the  situation,  he 

*  London  Daibj  Post. 


NEGLECT     OP    THE     PRESS.  277 

retnrnod  to  tlio  Dublin  form  of  niiiionncotnont,  as  in  the 
General  Advertiser  for  tlie  23(1  of  March,  1749— "At 
tlie  Tlieater  Royal  in  Covent  Garden,  this  day,  will  be 
performed  a  sacred  oratorio  called  Jfessiah,  with  a  con- 
certo." From  that  moment  the  journals  announced  the 
master  piece  under  its  own  name. 

We  have  seen,  from  the  analysis  of  the  first  perform- 
ance which  was  sent  to  the  principal  journals  in  Dublin, 
that  musical  ojsthetics  were  not  very  far  advanced  in  the 
eighteenth  century;  it  is  one  of  the  longest  articles  con- 
secrated to  Handel's  works  which  I  have  met  with.  The 
jonrnals  of  that  time,  although  very  numerous,  confined 
themselves  to  political  news,  to  scandalous  chronicles, 
and  to  the  facts  and  movements  of  the  court ;  but  they 
were  all  fir  from  being  sufficiently  enlightened  to  take 
much  heed  of  the  productions  of  art.  The  London 
Daily  Post  of  the  IVth  of  January,  1739,  says: — "Last 
night  the  king,  his  royal  highness  the  duke  (Cumber- 
land), and  their  royal  highnesses  the  princesses,  were  at 
the  oratorio  in  Haymarket.  It  met  with  general  ap- 
plause by  a  numerous  and  splendid  audience."  This  is 
all  the  account  that  is  given  of  the  first  performance  of 
a  work  like  Said  j  for  it  is  no  less  a  work  than  Saul 
which  is  referred  to,  albeit  it  is  not  named  !  And  even 
these  few  words  would  not  have  been  consecrated  to  this 
fact,  if  "the  king  and  their  royal  highnesses"  had  not 
been  there  !  At  that  time  there  was  no  such  thing  as 
criticism.  In  turning  over  all  the  public  journals  of 
London,  from  1741  to  1743,  I  do  not  find  a  line  about 
the  performances  of  The  Messiah  at  Dublin,  or  any  men- 
tion made  of  its  first  performance  in  London — not  a  vrord 
to  inform  us  as  to  how  it  was  received.  It  did  not  even  ob- 
tain the  alms  of  such  a  brief  notice  as  was  contemptuously 
accorded  to  Saul^  for  all  that  the  king  was  present.  One 
fact,  however,  is  related  by  Dr.  Beattie,  in  a  letter  dated 
Aberdeen,  the  24th  of  ^lay,  1780,  and  addressed  to  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Laing : — "  I  lately   heard  an  anecdote  which 


278  LIFE     OF     HAN-DEL. 

des^^rves  to  be  put  in  writino;,  and  wliich  yon  will  be  glad 
to  liear.  When  Handel's  Jlessiah  was  first  performed, 
the  audience  was  exceedingly  struck  and  affected  by  the 
music  in  general ;  but  when  that  choi'us  struck  up,  '  For 
the  Lord  God  Omnipotent,'  in  the  Alleluia,  they  were  so 
transported,  that  they  altogether  with  the  king  (who 
happened  to  be  present),  started  up  and  remained  stand- 
ing till  the  chorus  ended.  This  anecdote  I  had  from 
Lord  Kinnoul."*  It  is  from  this  circumstance  that  the 
custom  has  arisen  of  rising  during  the  performance  of 
this  piece,  a  custom  which  is  sometimes  erroneously 
attributed  to  a  religious  feeling.  There  are  hallelujahs 
in  almost  every  oratorio,  but  the  audience  only  rises  dur- 
ing the  performance  of  that  in  The  Ifessiah — "  a  hom- 
age," as  Mr.  Mactiirren  well  says,  "  which  is  as  honorable 
to  the  English  public  as  it  is  worthy  of  the  immortal 
composer."! 

*  Beattie's  Letters.     2  vols.  32mo,  1820.     Vol.  ii.  p.  77. 

t  The  Messiah  furnishes  another  example,  though  not  so  happy,  of  the 
power  of  custom  in  Great  Britain.  In  spite  of  the  respect  which  is 
shown  here  for  the  works  of  great  masters,  and  especially  for  those  of 
Handel,  and  ahove  all  for  TJie  Messiah,  the  conductors  are  in  the  habit  of 
putting  a  bass  voice  to  the  air  "  But  who  may  abide,"  which  is  destined 
for  a  contralto.  This  air  is  composed  for  a  bass  voice  in  the  original  MS., 
and  also  in  the  volume  of  Sketches  of  the  Messiah  ;i  but  Handel  has  ^\Tit- 
ten  over  it  in  pencil,  "  Un  tono  piu  alto  ex  (in)  E,  for  Mr.  Lowe  in  tenor- 
cliff."  The  name  of  the  same  singer  is  marked  in  ink  for  the  tenor  air, 
"  He  was  cut  off."  All  the  copies  of  The  Messiah,  by  Smith,  give  "  But 
who  may  abide"  for  an  alto,  and  we  should  bow  to  Mr.  Smith,  who  lived 
with  his  master  to  the  day  of  his  death.  However  that  may  be,  Mr. 
Macferren  has  somewhat  compromised  his  reputation  as  a  good  critic,  by 
saying  that  "  Handel  had  no  idea  of  assigning  this  air  to  a  bass,  as  it  is 
now  the  most  unmusicianly  custom  to  do."2 

All  the  conductors  commit  also  the  extraordinary  contradiction  of 
confiding  to  a   soprano  the    last  two  verses  of   the  magnificent  reoi- 


1  See  in  the  "  Catalogue"  for  the  List  of  Manuscri2itH. 

2  Preface  to  the  libretto  for  the  Sacrod  Harmonic  Society,  page  8. — Strange 
■whims  of  this  sort  are  not  rare.  At  the  York  Festival  of  lS-3,  it  was  iladame 
Catalani  who  sang  "  Comfort  ye  my  people,"  and  "-Every  valley,"  -which  are 
written  for  the  tenor.  She  also  sa-ig  "I  know  that  niy  lledt-emer  liveth,"  trans- 
posing it,  "to  the  great  damage,''' says  Crosse,  "  both  of  the  character  and  the 
eflfect  of  that  admirable  composition." 


INNOVATIONS.  279 

Ilowever  groat  mny  have  been  the  enthusiasm  at  its 
first  performance,  it  must  be  confessed  that  tlie  "  Sacred 
Oratorio"  does  not  appear  to  have  overcome  at  once  in 
London  the  resistance  of  the  old  prejudices  which  were 
opposed  to  the  composer.     Performed  on  tlie  23d,  the 

tative  with  an  air,  "Thy  rebuke;"  leaving  the  first  two  to  the  tenor 
voice,  for  which  all  the  four  verses  were  written.  In  the  same  man- 
ner they  divide  the  air,  "  He  sliall  feed  his  flock."i  And  neverthe- 
less, as  the  two  recitatives  are  a  narration,  nothing  could  be  more  un- 
reasonable than  to  give  the  beginning  to  one  voice,  and  the  end  to 
anotlier.  Every  musician  complains  of  these  violations  of  the  text  and 
of  good  sense,  which  were  (according  to  Buruey)  committed  as  early  as 
the  commemoration  of  1784.  Every  critic  has  condemned  them ;  no  one 
knows  to  what  tradition  to  attribute  them ;  and  yet  ask  any  conductor 
why  he  persists  in  them,  and  he  will  tell  you  "  it  is  the  custom."  In 
England,  more  than  anywhere  else,  these  four  unmeaning  words  have  a 
sacramental  power.  They  consecrate  many  an  inconsistency,  from  the 
disarrangement  of  Handel's  scores  down  to  the  little  gray  horse-hair  wigs 
which  the  judges  and  barristers  set  a  top  of  their  heads,  and  which  are 
enough  to  tempt  Themis  herself  from  her  awful  gravity. 

On  the  15th  of  December,  1854,  the  Sacred  Harmonic  Society  decided 
xipon  breaking  through  the  bonds  of  custom,  by  giving  "  But  who  may 
abide"  to  a  contralto,  and  the  whole  of  "  Thy  rebuke"  to  a  tenor  ;  but 
stiU  "  He  shall  feed  his  flock"  was  divided  between  two  different  voices. 
Let  us  hope  that  they  will  courageously  pursue  their  legitimate  restora- 
tions to  the  end.  And  they  will  do  well  also  to  renounce  an  innovation 
in  which  they  indulge,  that  of  beginning  the  chorus,  "  For  unto  us  a 
child  is  born,"  pianissimo.  It  is  true  that  the  effect  is  rather  happy,  and 
the  new  version  may  be  explained  as  a  kindly  wish  on  the  part  of  the 
chorus  not  to  disturb  the  repose  of  the  mother ;  but  we  find  no  indica- 
tion of  this  monthly-nurse  precaution  either  in  the  MS.  or  in  any  of  the 
copies  made  by  Smith  during  the  lifetime  of  the  author;  and  good 
judges  object  that  the  people,  in  hearing  of  the  birth  of  the  Messiah, 
would  naturally  give  full  and  spontaneous  expression  to  their  joy  with- 
out seeking  for  effects.  Handel  has  only  marked  the  instruments  j^ia^o 
when  they  accompany  the  voices,  and  he  afterward  drew  forth  the 
whole  power  of  the  orchestra  at  the  word  "  wonderful,"  not  for  the  pur- 
pose of  producing  a  contrast,  but  to  impress  it  with  an  additional  value. 
As  he  imagined  it  so,  po  one  has  a  right  to  change  it :  it  is  no  small 
matter  to  alter  the  character  of  a  movement  in  music,  and,  above  all,  a 
movement  by  Handel,  who  was  so  profound  a  thinker. 

For  some  time   past,  the  orchestral  conductors   have  manifested   a 

1  "  '  lie  shall  feed  His  flock'  is  written  by  Handel  entirely  in  the  key  of  B  flat, 
and  not  with  the  first  part  in  F,  as  usually  performed  and  printed  in  modern 
editions.  This  alteration  is  most  unwarrantable  and  absurd." — Preface  to  the 
Messiah,  by  Dr.  Rimbanlt,  in  the  edition  for  the  Handel  Society. 


280  LIFE     OP     HANDEL. 

25t]i,  and  the  29t])  of  March,  1743,  it  did  not  make  its 
appearance  in  1744,  and  was  only  inchided  among  the 
performances  of  174o,  on  the  9th  and  tlie  lltli  of  April ; 
after  which  it  was  heard  of  no  more  until  1749.  Per- 
formances so  infrequent,  and  a  suspension  so  prohmged, 
indicate  an  incredible  amount  of  coolness  on  the  part  of 
the  public.  Is  not  this  what  Mainwai-ing  and  Hawkins 
meant  when  they  spoke  of  the  failure  of  The  Messiah  f 
It  is  certain  that  the  complete  triumph  of  this  work  does 
not  date  further  back  than  the  12th  of  April,  1750,  when 
it  was  performed  for  the  seventh  time  at  Covent  Garden. 
Perhaps  also,  it  would  be  more  just  to  accuse  the  bigots 
of  conspiracy  than  the  town  of  want  of  taste.  We  have 
seen  that  they  raised  a  great  outcry  against  bringing  the 
Passion  upon  the  stage.  It  may  be  that  Handel  was 
obliged  to  conceal  his  masterpiece  in  order  to  avoid  their 
declamations,  which  would  only  have  supplied  his  ene- 
mies with  new  arms  against  him  ;  it  may  be  that  he 
waited  until  the  progress  of  the  times  and  the  advance 
of  reason  should  come  to  his  aid.     What  is  stronger  to 

great  passion  for  contrasts  "between  jt>m»/.ssi??zo  and  fortissimo.  That  in 
the  "Unto  us  a  child  is  born"  (which  is  attributed  to  Mr.  Costa)  doubt- 
less arises  from  the  influence  of  that  deviation  from  good  taste.  The 
Sacred  Harmonic  Society  is  not  justified  in  persisting  in  it ;  for  this  well- 
managed  Society  is  assuredly  the  first  of  its  kind  in  the  world  ;  its  acts 
have  great  w-eight,  and  every  thing  which  it  does  is  important,  as  ema- 
Bating  from  a  body  which  enjoys  and  deserves  great  consideration.  In 
such  a  position  it  is  bound  to  give  good  and  not  bad  examples.  Bonne 
renommee  oblige.  These  contrasts  may  be  agreeable  to  the  ear,  but  they 
are  not  natural ;  it  is  better  to  remain  in  the  simple  and  in  the  true  for 
the  present,  and,  above  all,  to  keep  faithfully  to  that  whi(!h  the  masters 
have  written  for  the  past.  Even  if  such  licenses  were  not  always  shock- 
ing, they  would  lead  to  dangerous  exaggerations  and  abuses.  Mr.  Hul- 
lah  has  lately  deemed  it  expedient  to  introduce  a  pianissimo  into  two 
choruses  of  Judas  Maccahceus,  "  Fallen  is  the  foe,"  and  "We  hear,  we 
hear."  And  yet  if  ever  choi-uses  ought  to  be  sung  Avith  fall  voices,  it  is 
in  each  of  these  cases  :  "  Fallen  is  the  foe  ;  so  falls  thy  foes,  0  Lord, 
where  warlike  Judas  v/ields  his  righteous  sword."  "  We  hear,  we  hear 
thy  pleasing  dreadful  call ;  and  follow  thee  to  conquest ;  if  to  fall — for 
laws,  rehgion,  liberty  we  fall."  Let  me  ask  if  there  is  a  single  word  in 
these  war-cries  that  at  all  requires  the  prettiness  oi  o.  pianissiino  f 


JENNENS    ON     "THE    MESSIAH."  -281 

fight  against  tlian  the  prejudice  of  ignorance ;  or  what 
more  tlitlicult  to  overcome  than  the  sj)irit  of  misplaced 
zeal  ? 

Tlie  Messiah^  which  Herder  called  "  a  C/hristian  epopee 
in  musical  sounds,"  ofiers  yet  another  singularity,  name- 
ly, that  it  did  not  altogether  give  satisfaction  to  Charles 
Jennens,  the  author  of  the  libretto.  This  person,  writ- 
ing to  one  of  his  friends  a  letter,  dated  "  Gopsall,  30th 
of  August,  1745,"  says,  "I  shall  show  you  a  collection  I 
gave  Handel,  called  3Iessiah^  which  I  value  highly,  and 
he  has  made  a  fine  entertainment  of  it,  though  not  so 
good  as  he  might  and  ought  to  have  done.  I  have  with 
great  difficulty  made  him  correct  some  of  the  grossest 
faults  in  the  composition.  But  he  retained  his  overture 
obstinately,  in  which  there  are  some  passages  far  unwor- 
thy of  Handel,  but  much  more  unworthy  of  The  Mes- 
slahy^  What  a  curious  example  of  the  relations  which 
exist  between  cotemporaries  !  Is  it  not  amusing  to  find 
Mr.  Jennens,  rich  and  cultivated  as  he  may  have  been, 
taking  this  tone  upon  himself,  and  treating  in  this  man- 
ner, a  work  which  is  loftier  than  the  Pyramids  ?  Is  it 
not  astonishing  that  he  should  presume  to  talk  of  "  gross 
faults"  in  the  compositions  of  Handel  ? 

Gross  faults  apart.  The  3Tessiah  is  universally  recog- 
nized as  the  masterpiece  of  the  master.  Whoever  has 
listened  to  his  music  will  admit  that  its  most  distinctive 
character  is  the  sublime.  No  one,  without  exception, 
neither  Beethoven  nor  Mozart,  has  ever  risen  nearer  to 
the  grandeur  of  the  ideal  than  Handel  did,  and  he  was 
never  more  sublime  than  in  The  Messiah.  And,  remem- 
bering this,  read  the  dates  which  are  inscribed  with  his 
own  hand  upon  the  manuscript : 

"Commenced  on  the  22d  of  August,  1741. 
End  of  the  first  part,  on  the  28th  of  August. 

*  From  the  original  letter  of  Jennens  in  the  possession  of  Lord  Howe. 
— Townsend,  p.  119. 


282  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

Eiii]  of  tho  second,  on  the  6th  of  September. 
End  of  the  third,  on  the  12th  of  8e})teniber,  1741. 
Filled  up  [that  is  to  say,  orchestrized]  on  the  14th." 

This  superhuman  work  was  therefore  accomplished  in 
twenty-three  days !  And  Handel  was  then  fifty-six  years 
old! 

It  is  a  strange  phenomenon  :  when  men  of  genius  are 
to  die  young,  they  complete  their  masterpieces  at  once. 
Mozart  rendered  up  his  divine  soul  at  thirty-nine ;  Ra- 
phael painted  "  The  School  of  Athens"  when  he  was 
twenty-five,  and  the  "  Transfiguration"  at  thirty-seven  ; 
Paul  Potter,  his  "  Bull"  at  twenty-two ;  Rossini  com- 
posed The  Barber  of  Seville  when  he  was  twenty-three, 
and  WilUain  Tell  at  thirty-seven,  and  afterward  wrote 
no  more.  If  these  men  had  lived  longer,  it  would  have 
been  impossible  for  them  to  surpass  themselves.  Great 
artists,  on  the  other  hand,  who  are  destined  to  have  long 
lives,  are  slow  in  production,  or  rather  they  produce 
their  best  things  in  the  decline  of  life.  Handel  composed 
his  greatest  works — The  Funeral  Anthem^  Israel.^  The 
Jlessiah,  Samsofi,  The  Dettingen  Te  Deum^  and  Judas 
Maccahmus — after  he  was  fifty-two  years  old.  Rameau 
was  Dfty-four  when  he  began  to  write  for  the  theater. 
Gluck  had  not  composed  one  of  his  immortal  operas 
when  he  was  fifty.  Haydn  was  an  old  man  of  sixty-five 
years  when  he  produced  TheCreation.  Murillo  became 
Murillo  only  at  forty  years  of  age.  Poussin  was  seventy 
when  he  painted  "  The  Deluge,"  which  is  the  most  poet- 
ically great  of  all  his  noble  pictures.  Michael  Angelo 
counted  more  than  sixty  years  when  lie  encrusted  his 
incomparable  fresco  of  "The  Last  Judgment"  upon  the 
walls  of  the  Sixtine  Chapel,  and  he  was  eighty-seven 
years  old  when  he  raised  the  cupola  of  St.  Peter's  to  the 
heavens. 

Handel  made  many  retouches  of  The  Me^^siah.  Dr. 
Rimbault  has  given  an  analysis  of  the  difi'erent  changes 


"now    BEAUTIFUL."  283 

ill  Lis  preface  to  tlie  edition  for  the  Handel  Society.* 
Those  who  read  these  technical  details  will  perceive  that 
the  great  man  did  not  spare  his  labor  in  perfecting  his 
most  successful  works. 

It  is  to  be  noted,  that  Handel  drew  the  movements  of 

*  Dr.  Rimbault  was  not  in  entire  possession  of  the  truth  as  to  "  How 
beautiful  are  the  feet."  Altogether  there  are  four  versions  of  this  in 
Handel's  own  handwriting.  Mr.  Lacy,  has  analyzed  these  for  me  from 
the  MSS.  in  Buckingham  Palace.  The  first  (such  as  it  is  in  the  body  of 
the  MS.)  is  an  air  for  a  soprano  in  G  minor.  It  is  composed  of  two 
Btrophes,  "  How  beautiful"  and  "  Their  sound  is  gone."  The  words  are 
from  the  well-known  text :  "  How  beautiful  are  the  feet  of  them  that 
preach  the  gospel  of  peace,  and  bring  glad  tidings  of  good  things,"  The 
first  version  is  engraved  by  Walsh,  with  the  two  strophes,  and  it  is  that 
which  is  now  sung,  suppressing  the  second  strophe,  which  prolongs  it 
considerably.  The  suppression  must  be  a  very  remote  and  authorized 
tradition,  for  Handel  himself  detached  the  strophe,  "  Their  soiand  is 
gone,"  and  made  it  into  a  separate  air,  entirely  new,  which  is  written  at 
the  end  of  his  MS.  of  The  Messiah.  He  afterward  transformed  this  last 
air  into  a  chorus,  as  it  is  now  sung.  This  chorus  is  also  at  the  end  of 
the  MS.  In  the  second  version,  which  is  also  at  the  end  of  the  manu- 
script, the  air,  "  How  beautiful,"  without  the  strophe,  "  Their  sound  is 
gone,"  is  arranged  as  a  duet  in  D  minor  for  two  alto  voices,  followed  by 
a  chorus  on  the  words,  "  Break  forth  into  joy ;  thy  God  reigneth."  The 
words  of  the  second  version,  diftering  sliglitly  from  the  first,  are,  "  How 
beautiful  are  the  feet  of  him  that  briugeth  glad  tidings  of  salvation,  that 
saith  unto  Sion,  thy  God  reigneth."  The  third  version  (which  is  in  the 
quarto  volume  of  the  MS.  Sketches)  is  also  a  duet,  but  with  many  changes. 
It  has  besides,  by  way  of  introduction,  the  commencement  of  the  over- 
ture of  the  eighth  Chamlos  Anthem.  The  words  exhibit  a  very  slight 
alteration — "  How  beautiful  are  the  feet  of  them  that  bringeth  good  ti- 
dings of  peace,  tidings  of  salvation  ;  that  say  unto  Sion,"  etc. ;  chorus, 
**  Break  forth,"  etc.  The  words,  thus  altered,  are  printed  in  a  handbook 
of  The  Messiah,  dated  Dublin,  1757,  and  they  are  there  marked  "  Duet 
and  chorus."  I  am  indebted  for  a  MS.  copy  of  that  handbook  to  the 
obliging  kindness  of  Mr.  Townsend.  "  And  lo !  the  angels,"  which 
Handel  transformed  into  an  accompanied  recitative  :  as  it  is  now  sung, 
is  marked  in  the  libretto,  "  Song,"  just  as  it  was  originally.  I  remark 
precisely  the  same  thing  in  a  Messiah  dated  1759,  "  as  performed  at  the 
theater  in  Oxford."  Nevertheless,  in  the  handbook  of  1757  and  1759, 
"  as  performed  at  Covent  Garden" — that  it  to  say,  under  the  direction  of 
Handel — "  How  beautiful,"  remains  a  song ;  "  their  sound,"  a  chorus ; 
and  "  Lo,  the  angels,"  an  accompanied  recitative,  exactly  as  they  were 
in  the  handbook  of  1749.  It  is  singular  that  in  the  provinces  people  ad- 
hered to  two  forms  which  the  composer  had  most  decidedly  renounced. 

The  three  versions  of  "  How  beautiful,"  mentioned  above,  are  based 


284  LIFE    OF     HANDEL. 

four  choruses  in  this  oratorio  ("  His  yoke  is  easy,"  "  He 
shall  purify,"  "  For  unto  us,"  "  All  we  like  sheep"),  from 
two  Italian  chamber  duets,  which  he  had  composed  a 
naonth  previously.*  The  duet,  "  O  Death !  Avhere  is  thy 
sting  ?"  is  also  partly  drawn  from  another  chamber  duet, 
"  Se  tu  non  lasci  amore." 

The  Commemoration  of  1784,  at  which  The  Messiah 
v/as  performed  twice,  seems  to  have  given  it  a  new 
splendor.  Its  popularity  became  so  great,  that  the  Rev. 
John  Newton  published  two  enormous  octavo  volumes 
of  sermons,  under  the  title  of  "  Messiah  ;  Fifty  Exposi- 
tory Discourses  on  the  series  of  scriptural  passages  which 
form  the  subject  of  the  celebrated  Okatorio  of  Handel, 
preached  in  the  years  1784  and  1785,  in  the  Parish 
Church  of  St.  Mary  Woolnoth,  Lombard  Street."  The 
preacher  confesses,  nevertheless,  that  he  knew  nothing 
of  "  the  celebrated  oratorio."  He  says,  ajwopos  of  the 
air,  "  He  will  dash  them  in  pieces,"  that  he  had  been 
"  informed"  that  the  music  of  this  passage  was  so  well 
adapted  to  the  idea  which  it  expressed,  that  it  made  the 
hearer  tremble  with  fear. 

This  is  almost  the  only  direct  mention  which  he  makes 
of  the  work.  Why  then  so  many  sermons  upon  such  a 
pretext  ?     This  question  is  answered  by  a  few  words  in 

upon  the  same  melody,  and  are  all  iu  the  minor  key.  The  fourth,  which 
has  hitherto  remained  unknown,  has  been  discovered  by  Mr.  Lacy  in  the 
quarto  volume  of  MS.  Sketches.  It  is  a  m.agniflcent  air,  entirely  new,  in 
I),  for  a  soprano,  and  is  set  to  the  words  of  the  third  version. 

Arnold  gives,  in  the  Appendix  to  his  edition  of  The  Messiah^  the  G 
minor  air  (with  the  second  strophe  left  out),  merely  transposed  into  C 
minor.  Tliis  might  almost  be  considered  a  fifth  version ;  but  he  is  the 
first  who  furnishes  it,  and  it  may  be  asked  on  what  authoi-ity  he  has 
founded  it,  for  it  can  not  be  discovered  anywhere  in  the  MS.,  or  in  the 
large  copy  by  Smith,  which  is  at  Buckingham  Palace ;  or  in  the  one 
which  forms  part  of  Mr.  Lennard's  collection  ;  or  in  that  inherited  from 
Smith,  which  all  have  the  air  in  G  minor.  Although  Dr.  Kimbault  has 
accepted  this  fifth  version,  and  has  published  it,  its  authenticity  seems 
to  be  more  than  doubtful.  It  is  probably  only  one  of  those  arbitrary 
transpositions  which  spoil  Arnold's  edition.    See  Appendix  Q, 

*See  "Catalogue,"  1741. 


POPULARITY     OF     "  T  II E    MESSIAH."  285 

tile  iiitrorluction  to  tlie  first  volume,  in  wliich  the  rever- 
end author  declares  : — "  Such  a  plan  lias  lately  and  rather 
unexpectfy.lly  occurred  to  me  ;  conversation  in  almost 
every  company,  for  some  time  past,  having  much  turned 
upon  the  Gommemoi-ation  of  Handel,  and  particularly  hia 
oratorio  of  The  Messiah.'''^  It  is  clear  that  the  worthy 
man  made  use  of  a  fashion  of  the  da}",  in  order  to  attract 
a  greater  amount  of  attention  upon  his  sermons  and  his 
book.* 

As  if  Tlie  Messiah  were  to  illustrate  all  the  best  quali- 
ties of  Handel,  that  masterpiece  of  the  artist  who  gave 

*  The  Messiah  has  remained  the  most  popular  of  oratorios  :  I  am  al- 
most temiited  to  say  it  forms  part  of  the  religion  of  England.  It  is  never 
announced  in  any  thing  like  a  fitting  manner  without  attracting  the  puh- 
lic.  It  invariably  forms  pari  of  the  programme  at  all  the  festivals,  and 
the  day  on  which  it  is  performed  is  always  the  most  productive.  I  have 
had  occasion  to  hear  it  at  Greenwich  and  at  Jersey,  and,  restricted  as 
were  the  means  of  execution  in  both  cases,  it  delighted  the  audience.  In 
December,  1854,  it  was  performed  three  times  in  Loudon  within  a  single 
week  (Christmas  week  it  is  true),  to  ovei'ilowing  audiences — on  Wednes- 
day, the  20th  of  December,  at  St.  Martin's  Hall,  with  three  hundred  per- 
formers, soloists,  chorus,  orchestra,  and  Mr.  Hullah  as  conductor ;  on 
Friday,  the  22d,  at  Exeter  Hall,  by  the  Sacred  Harmonic  Society,  with 
seven  hundred  performers,  and  Mr.  Costa  conductor ;  and  on  Monday, 
the  24th,  at  Exeter  Hall,  by  the  London  Sacred  Harmonic  Society,  with 
eight  hundred  performers,  and  Mr.  Surinan  (the  founder  and  first  con- 
ductor of  the  Society  now  presided  over  by  Mr.  Costa)  conductor.  Search 
France,  Germany,  and  Italy,  and  you  will  not  be  able  to  assemble  such 
masses  of  artists,  with  such  numerous  and  persevering  audiences  to  rec- 
ompense their  efforts.  Can  it  be  said  after  this  that  the  English  are  an 
anti-musical  people  ? 

At  the  Birmingham  Festival  of  1855,  The  Messiah  obtained  a  new 
triumph.  The  audience  was  composed  of  2597  persona,  and  the  receipts 
amouuted  to  the  almost  incredible  sum  of  £28u8  8s.  The  performance 
was  incomparable,  prodigious,  surpassing  any  thing  I  ever  heard  in  any 
country.  Were  I  to  live  for  a  hundred  years  I  should  never  forget  that 
morning. 

This  oratorio  is  almost  as  widely  spread  over  Germany  as  over  En- 
gland; it  has  been  translated  there  for  sixty  years,  and  has  been  fre- 
quently published.  At  every  festival  in  that  country  it  has  a  leading 
place.  It  is  also  performed  at  New  York  and  at  Boston,  where  an  Ameri- 
can edition  has  been  published.  I  have  a  newspaper  from  Melbourne,  in 
Australia,  which  announces  The  Messiah  for  "the  third  concert  of  the  Phil- 
harmonic Society."     It  is  only  in  France  that  this  oratorio  is  unknown  ! 


286  LIFE    OF    HANDEL. 

tlie  most  to  the  poor  during  his  life  is,  ol'the  productions 
of  the  luiman  mind,  that  which  has  most  contributed 
to  all  kinds  of  charities.  At  the  present  day,  it  is  the 
piece  of  all  others  to  attract  the  public  to  a  benefit  of 
any  kind.  The  Sacred  Harmonic  Society,  particularly, 
gives  it  every  year  for  the  benefit  of  distressed  mu- 
sicians. Truly  does  it  deserve  the  touching  eulogy  that, 
"  it  has  fed  the  hungry,  clothed  the  naked,  and  fostered 
the  orphan." 

The  generous  Handel  had,  in  a  manner,  given  this  di- 
rection to  his  work.  It  has  been  seen  that  the  whole  re- 
ceipts of  the  first  performance  went  to  the  hospitals  of 
Dublin.  The  fourth  revival,  wdiich  took  place  on  the 
11th  of  April,  1750,  having  been  extremely  successful,  he 
gave  it  once  more  on  the  1st  of  May  following,  for  the 
benefit  of  the  London  Foundling  Hospital,  then  in  its  in- 
fancy.* 

*  The  Foundlini?  Hospital,  -with  whicla  the  only  fault  that  can  be  found 
is  that  of  being  too  luxurious,  arose  from  the  charitable  devotion  of  a  single 
individual,  Captain  Thomas  Coram,  a  retired  master  of  a  trading  vessel. 
His  charity  surmounted  all  the  obstacles  which  stand  in  the  way  of  such, 
undertakings.  "  He  obtained  the  royal  charter  on  the  17tli  of  October, 
1739,  and  opened  the  Hospital  on  the  25th  of  March,  1741." — Gentleniaa's 
Magazine.  The  liospital  was  then  in  Hatton  Garden.  "  Any  person 
bringing  a  child,  rang  the  bell  at  an  inner  door,  and  waited  to  hear  if  the 
infant  was  returned,  from  disease,  or  at  once  received,  no  questions  what- 
ever being  asked  as  to  whom  the  child  belonged,  or  whence  it  was 
brought ;  and  when  the  full  number  of  children  had  been  taken  in,  a 
notice  of '  The  House  is  Full,'  was  atHxed  over  the  door.  Often  there 
were  one  hundred  children  offered,  when  only  twenty  could  be  admitted ; 
riots  ensued,  and  thenceforth  the  women  balloted  for  admission  by  draw- 
ing bails  out  of  a  bag."' — Tiaibs's  Curiosities  of  London^  page  311.  The 
children  were  removed  to  the  present  hospital  in  1754.  The  Gemral 
Advertiser  for  the  11th  of  January,  1750,  announces  the  opening  of  the 
hospital  for  the  19th,  which,  with  the  detestable  editing  of  the  time, 
must  have  signified  that  a  new  admission  of  children  would  take  place 
on  the  19th  ;  for  at  that  time  the  hospital  had  been  in  existence  ten  years. 
Hogarth,  who  was  less  of  a  painter  than  a  morah.st  writing  with  his  pen- 
cil, has  made  a  portrait  of  Captain  Coram,  which  is  as  fine  as  if  it  were 
by  one  of  the  great  masters.  The  resemblance  must  be  perfect.  All  the 
nobility  of  kindliness  beams  from  the  somewhat  commonplace  features 
of  that  worthy  and  venerable  old  man. 


THE     FOUNDLING     HOSPITAL.  287 

"  Hospital  for  the  Maintenance  and  Education  of  Ex,- 
posed  and  Deserted  Young  Children^  in  LamlPs 
Conduit  Fields^  Aiyri'l  18,  iToO. 
"George  Frederic  Handel,  Esq.,  having  presented 
this  Hospital  with  a  very  fine  organ  for  the  chapel 
thereof,  and  repeated  his  offer  of  assistance  to  promote 
this  charity,*  on  Tuesday,  the  first  day  of  May,  1750,  at 
twelve  o'clock  at  noon,  Mr.  Handel  will  open  the  said 
organ,  and  the  sacred  oratorio  called  ITessiah  will  be 
performed  under  his  direction.  Tickets  for  this  perform- 
ance are  ready  to  be  delivered  by  the  Steward  at  the 
Hospital ;  at  Batson's  Coffee  House,  in  Cornhill  ;  and 
White's  Chocolate  House,t  in  St.  James's-street,  at  half 
a  guinea  each.  N.B. — There  will  be  no  collection.  By 
order  of  the  General  Committee. 

"  Harman  Yeeelst,  Secretary."  J; 

It  was,  and  still  is,  the  general  custom  in  England,  at 

*  Allusion  is  here  made  to  a  perfonnaiice  which  Handel  had  given  on 
the  27th  of  May,  1749,  for  that  noble  institution,  and  of  which  mention 
will  be  made  in  its  place. 

t  The  mention  of  Batson's  Coifee  House  and  White's  Chocolate  House 
indicate  that  the  houses  for  the  sale  of  coffee  and  chocolate  were  at  that 
time  distinct  from  each  other.  The  locality  of  Cornhill  seems  historically 
connected  v/ith  the  sale  of  coffee  in  England,  inasmuch  as  the  earliest 
coffee-house  in  London  "  was  in  St.  Michael's  Alley,  Cornhill,  opposite 
to  the  church,  which  was  set  up  by  one  Bowman  (coachman  to  Mr. 
Hodges,  a  Turkey  merchant,  who  putt  him  upon  it),  in  or  about  the 
yeare  1652." — Aubrey'' s  MS.  in  the  Bodleian  Library.  White's  Chocolate 
House  was  established  in  St.  James's-street,  1698;  but  about  1736  it 
ceased  to  be  a  house  of  public  resort,  and  "  became  a  gaming-chib  and  a 
noted  supper-house."  Hogarth,  in  Plate  Six  of  the  "  Eake's  Progress," 
shows  a  party  of  gentlemen  so  intent  upon  their  play,  that  they  do  not 
perceive  that  the  liouse  is  in  flames.  As  a  proof  of  the  extent  to  which 
gambling  was  here  carried  on,  Horace  Walpole,  in  a  letter  to  Sir  Horace 
Mann,  dated  September  1,  1750,  says : — "  They  have  put  into  the  papers 
a  good  story  made  at  White's.  A  man  dropped  dead  at  the  door,  and 
was  carried  in ;  the  club  immediately  made  bets  whether  he  was  dead  or 
not ;  and  when  they  were  going  to  bleed  him,  the  wagerers  for  his  death 
interposed,  and  said  it  would  affect  the  fairness  of  the  bet." — Timbs's 
Our'wsities  of  London. 

X  From  the  General  Advertiser  of  Friday,  April  20th,  1750 


288  LIFE    OF    llANDEL. 

all  great  charitable  concerts,  to  make  collections  at  the 
door. 

The  concourse  was  so  great  on  the  1st  of  May,  that 
three  days  afterward  the  General  Adi^ertiser  for  Friday, 
the  4th  of  May,  1750,  puLlished  a  new  advertisement  of 
the  Foundling  Hospital,  dated  on  the  2d  : — "A  compu- 
tation was  made  of  what  number  of  persons  the  chapel 
of  this  hospital  would  conveniently  hold,  and  no  greater 
number  of  tickets  were  delivered  to  hear  the  pei'form- 
ance  there  on  the  1st  instant.  But  so  many  persons  of 
distinction  coming  unprovided  with  tickets,  and  pressing 
to  pay  for  tickets,  caused  a  greater  number  to  be  ad- 
mitted than  were  expected  ;  and  some  that  had  tickets, 
not  finding  room,  Avent  away.  To  prevent  any  disap- 
pointment to  such  persons,  and  for  the  further  promotion 
of  this  charity,  this  is  to  give  notice  that  George  Fred- 
eric Handel,  Esq.,  has  generously  offered  that  the  sacred 
oratorio  called  Messiah  shall  be  performed  again  under 
his  direction,  in  the  chapel  of  this  hospital,  on  Tuesday 
the  15th  instant,  at  twelve  of  the  clock  at  noon ;  and  the 
tickets  delivered  out,  and  not  brought  in  on  the  1st  in- 
stant, will  then  be  received.  Tlie  tickets  will  be  de- 
livered from  Monday  the  Yth  to  the  14th,  and  not  after." 

In  the  following  year,  Handel  again  caused  his  favorite 
work  to  be  performed  successively,  on  the  18th  of  April 
and  the  16th  of  May,  for  the  benefit  of  the  hospital.  On 
the  18th  of  April,  1751,  "the  sum  for  the  tickets  de- 
livered out  was  above  GOO  pounds."*  Less  than  a  month 
afterward,  on  the  13th  of  May,  the  General  Advertiser 
contained  tlie  following  announcement : — "  From  the 
Foundling  Hospital. — At  the  request  of  several  persons 
of  distinction,  G.  F.  Handel,  Esq.,  has  been  applied  to 
for  a  repetition  of  the  performance  of  the  sacred  oratorio 
called  Messiah  y  which  he  having  very  charitably  agreed 
to,  this  is  to  give  notice  that  the  said  oi-atorio  will  be 
performed  on  Tiiursday,  16th  histant,  being  Ascension 
*  Gentlernaii's  Magazine. 


"a    6UKE    DliAW."  289 

day,  at  12  at  noon  precisely.  Nota. — ^The  doors  will  be 
open  at  ten,  and  there  will  be  no  collection." 

On  the  17th, .the  same  journal  gives  the  following  ac- 
count of  the  performance  :  "  Yesterday  the  oratorio  of 
Messiah  was  performed  at  the  Foundling  Hospital  to  a 
very  numerous  and  splendid  audience,  and  a  voluntary 
on  the  organ  was  played  by  Mr.  Handel,  which  met  with 
universal  applause."  So  they  applauded  then  in  the 
chapel  of  tlie  Foundling  Hospital.  The  Gentleman'' s 
Magazine  for  May,  1751,  says:  "There  were  above 
five  hundred  coaches,  besides  chairs,  and  the  tickets 
amounted  to  above  seven  hundred  guineas." 

Seeing  that  The  Messiah  was,  as  they  say  in  theatrical 
parlance,  "a  sure  draw,"  Handel  in  a  manner  divided 
bis  property  in  it  with  the  hospital ;  he  gave  that  institu- 
tion a  copy  of  the  score,  and  promised  to  come  and  con- 
duct it  every  year  for  the  benefit  of  the  good  work. 
This  gift  was  the  occasion  of  an  episode  in  which  may  be 
perceived  the  choleric  humor  of  the  worthy  donor.  The 
administrators  of  the  hospital,  being  desirous  of  invest- 
ing his  intentions  with  a  legal  form,  prepared  a  petition 
to  Parliament,  which  terminated  in  the  following  man- 
ner : — "  That  in  order  to  raise  a  further  sum  for  the  ben- 
efit of  the  said  charity,  George  Frederic  Handel,  Esq., 
hath  been  charitably  pleased  to  give  to  this  corporation 
a  composition  of  music,  called  '  The  Oratorio  of  The  Mes- 
siah^ composed  by  him ;  the  said  George  Frederic  Han- 
del reserving  to  himself  only  the  liberty  of  performing  the 
same  for  his  own  benefit  during  his  life :  And  whereas, 
the  said  benefaction  can  not  be  secured  to  the  sole  use 
of  your  petitioners  except  by  the  authority  of  Parliament, 
your  petitioners  therefore  humbly  pray  that  leave  may 
be  given  to  bring  in  a  bill  for  the  purposes  aforesaid." 
When  one  of  the  governors  waited  upon  the  musician 
with  this  form  of  petition,  he  soon  discovered  that  the 
committee  of  the  hospital  had  built  on  a  wrong  found- 
ation ;  for  Handel,  bursting  into  a  rage,  exclaimed — "Te 


290  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

Devil !  for  vat  sal  de  Foundling  put  mien  oratorio  in  de 
Parlement !  Te  Devil !  mein  music  sal  not  go  to  de 
Parlement."* 

The  petition  went  no  further  ;  but  Handel  did  not  the 
less  fulfill  the  pious  engagement  which  he  had  con- 
tracted. In  1752,  on  Thursday,  the  9th  of  April,  the 
number  of  tickets  taken  was  1200,  each  ten  and  six- 
pence.f  In  1753,  the  Piihlic  Advertiser  of  the  2d  of 
May,  announced :  "  Yesterday,  the  sacred  oratorio  called 
Messiah  was  performed  in  the  chapel  at  the  Foundling 
Hospital,  under  the  direction  of  the  inimitable  composer 
thereof,  George  Frederic  Handel  Esq.,  who,  in  the  organ 
concerto,  played  himself  a  voluntary  on  the  fine  organ 
he  gave  to  that  chapel."  The  London  Magazine  of  the 
month  says  that  "  there  were  above  800  coaches  and 
chairs,  and  the  tickets  amounted  to  925  guineas." 

Eleven  performances  of  the  same  kind,  between  1750 
and  1759,  brought  £6955  to  the  hospitahj  Handel  con- 
ducted them  all  in  person,  although  (it  must  not  be  for- 
gotten) he  became  blind  in  1753.  This  benefaction  of 
the  generous  and  charitable  artist  survived  him  for  many 

*  Brownlow,  p.  143.  The  Foundling  Hospital  of  London  was  not  the 
only  charitahle  institution  which  had  the  honor  to  receive  a  copy  of  the 
masterpiece.  Handel  had  previously  bestowed  one  on  the  Charitable 
Musical  Society  of  Dublin.  Faulhier''s  Journal  of  the  3d  to  the  6th  of 
December,  1743,  announces: — "From  the  Charitable  Musical  Society. 
The  said  Society  having  obtained  from  the  celebrated  Mr.  Handel  a  copy 
of  the  score  of  the  grand  musical  entertainment  called  The  IlessiaJi^  they 
intend  to  have  it  performed  on  the  16th  of  December  inst.,  for  the  benefit 
and  enlargement  of  i:>risoners  confined  for  debt,"  etc.  When  the  So- 
ciety ceased  to  exist  this  copy  passed,  somehow  or  other,  into  the  pos- 
session of  Mercer's  Hospital,  Dublin ;  for  that  institution  boasted  a  short 
time  ago  of  possessing  one.  One  of  the  physicians  of  the  establishment, 
being  fond  of  music,  took  it  home  with  him  one  day  to  examine  it.  Shortly 
afterward  he  died  suddenly,  and  the  copy  disappeared  in  the  midst  of  the 
confusion  caused  by  that  event.  All  endeavors  to  recover  it  have  hith- 
erto been  in  vain,  and  it  is  uncertain  whether  it  has  been  stolen  by  some 
amateur,  who  is  for  the  present  compelled  to  conceal  it,  or  whether  it 
has  been  burned  as  waste  paper  by  some  ignorant  domestic.  For  the 
facts  upon  which  this  note  is  founded  I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  Townsend. 

t  Gentleman's  Magazine.  %  Barney. 


BENEFACTIONS    TO    THE    FOUNDLING.       291 

years.  Eight  performances,  conducted  by  J.  C.  Smith, 
between  17C0  and  1768,  realized  £1332,  and  nine  per- 
formances, coiKlucted  by  John  Stanley,  from  1769  to 
1777,  realized  £2032;*  so  that,  altogether,  The  Messiah 
alone  brought  into  the  funds  of  the  Foundling  Hospital 
no  less  a  sum  than  £10,299. 

Let  it  be  remarked  that  The  Messiah^  Judas  Macca- 
bmus^  and  Samson  were  the  most  popular  oratorios 
during  the  life  of  the  author ;  he  produced  the  first 
thirty-four  times,  the  second  thirty-four  times  also,  and 
the  third  thirty  times.  But  m  the  thirty-four  representa- 
tions of  The  Messiah,  the  eleven  for  the  Foundling  Hos- 
pital are  included.  Handel,  therefore,  only  performed  it 
twenty-three  times  for  his  own  benefit.  It  is  even  to  be 
remarked,  that  from  the  year  1753  he  did  not  give  more 
than  eleven  performances  in  each  year.  One  might  im- 
agine tliat  he  had  imposed  upon  himself  the  rule  of  giv- 
ing only  twelve,  and  that  he  wished  to  reserve  the  last 
for  the  Foundling  Hospital.  In  this  manner  he  dimin- 
ished the  benefits  which  he  might  have  derived  from  his 
favorite  Avork  for  himself,  in  order  that  the  charitable  in- 
stitution might  have  the  more  advantage.  How  is  it 
possible  not  to  hold  in  aflectionate  veneration  the  mem- 
ory of  a  man  in  whose  life  we  discover  such  facts !  To 
sympathize  with  human  misery  when  we  find  it  under 
our  very  eyes  is  natural  and  almost  instinctive,  a  mo- 
mentary sacrifice  for  the  relief  of  a  sufi*erer  is  so  easy ; 
but  a  continued  sacrifice  is  difticult,  and  it  must  be 
founded  upon  a  rational  idea  of  duty,  since  it  imposes 
upon  us  daily  privations.  For  this  reason,  nothing  is 
more  worthy  of  our  respect  than  this  charity  of  Handel, 
which  lasted  for  years,  of  which  he  never  was  weary, 
which  fed  itself  continually,  like  a  miraculous  inextin- 
guishable flame. 

Mr.  Macfarien  has  said  (in  his  preface  to  the  libretto 
of  1854,  for  the  Sacred  Harmonic  Society)  that  the  sacred 
*  Burney. 


292  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

oratorio  was  never  j^riiited  during  the  author's  lifetime. 
This  is  not  absolutely  exact.  Walsh  had  scattered  all 
the  airs  and  the  last  duet  through  his  collection  of  Han- 
deVs  (400)  So7igs  selected  from  his  Oratorios^  in  five  ob- 
long volumes.  This  collection,  it  is  true,  commenced  in 
1749  (six  years  after  the  first  performance  of  The  Mes- 
siah  in  London),  and  was  completed  in  1759.  More- 
over, it  does  not  include  a  single  chorus.  This,  there- 
fore, can  not  be  considered  as  a  regular  publication  of 
the  work  ;  and  if  Mr.  Macfarren  takes  it  in  that  sense, 
he  is  in  the  right. 

The  fixct  is,  that  the  first  collected  edition,  entitled 
Songs  in  the  Messiah^  does  not  date  further  back  than 
1763,  four  years  after  the  author's  death.  Even  in  this, 
there  were  wanting  five  recitatives  and  all  the  choruses, 
and  still  we  find  all  the  airs  as  they  had  been  composed 
originally,  and  without  any  of  the  changes  which  Handel 
had  made.  The  first  edition  which  is  really  complete  is 
that  of  Randall,  Walsh's  successor,  and  it  belongs  to  the 
year  1768.  I  have  treated  these  two  questions  about 
dates  in  the  "  Catalogue  of  Works"  (article  Messiah), 
where  they  are  more  naturally  in  their  place ;  and  to 
this  I  take  the  liberty  of  referring  the  reader  who  feels 
interested  about  them. 

My  opinion  upon  this  point  was  formed  at  the  time 
when  I  happened  to  meet  Mr.  John  Caulfield,  the  son 
of  Walsh's  apprentice,  of  whom  mention  has  been 
already  made.*  According  to  what  he  remembers  of 
his  father's  conversation  upon  the  point,  after  the  per- 
formance of  The  Messiah^  Walsh  demanded  the  MS., 
sending,  at  the  same  time,  the  usual  honorarium  of 
twenty  guineas,  which  was  the  stipulated  price  of  every 
oratorio  which  he  printed.  But  the  composer  would  not 
accept  them,  saying,  that  rather  than  receive  such  a  sum 
he  would  not  publish  the  oratorio.  When  Mr.  Jolin 
Caulfield  communicated  to  me  this  oral  tradition,  I  had 
*  Page  112. 


PUBLICATION    OF    "THE    MESSIAH."  293 

not  infOT-med  liim  that,  so  fav  as  I  had  ascertained,  The 
Messiah  had  remained  unpublished  during  the  lifetime 
of  the  author.  Was  this  really  the  cause  of  that  extra- 
ordinary lact  ?  Was  the  ex-apprentice,  in  his  old  age, 
quite  sure  of  what  he  said  ?  Did  Handel,  who  was  so 
violent,  so  single  in  purpose,  and  of  such  an  inflexible 
temper,  ever  desire  to  draw  back  fi-om  his  word  ?  Did 
Walsh,  not  being  desirous  of  opening  the  door  to  other 
augmentations  of  price  for  the  future,  exhibit  the  same 
obstinacy  ?  Without  pretending  to  hold  the  key  of  the 
secret,  or  to  assert  that  this  explanation  is  satisfactory,  I 
offer  it  to  the  consideration  of  the  reader.  It  leads  us, 
however,  to  imagine  that  Handel  valued  this  work  from 
the  beginning,  much  beyond  any  other,  in  spite  of  the 
indifference  of  the  public. 

Whatever  may  have  been  his  motives,  which  are  so 
impenetrable  for  us,  there  is  no  doubt  that  he  did  not 
wish  The  3Iessiah  to  be  printed.  With  the  exception 
of  Israel  in  Egypt  (which  doubtless  excited  his  choro- 
phobia),  Walsh  published  all  the  other  works,  even 
Theodora^  which  was  a  failure,  and  he  would  not  have 
refused  that  honor  to  The  Messiah  if  he  had  been  per- 
mitted to  do  the  same  with  it.  The  phoenix  of  oratorios 
was  not  entirely  successful  at  first ;  but  admitting  that 
that  reason  had  any  influence  with  the  tradesman,  it  no 
longer  existed  in  1750.  TJie  Messiah  had  then  for  the 
second  time  conquered  the  spirit  of  darkness,  and  was  in 
all  its  glory,  constantly  attracting  the  multitude,  so  that 
Walsh,  instead  of  fearing  to  make  a  bad  speculation, 
would  have  been  certain  to  make  a  good  one.  It  must 
even  be  supposed  that  Walsh  was,  in  some  manner,  re- 
ligiously bound,  since,  in  spite  of  the  certainty  of  profit, 
he  only  engraved  his  book  of  Songs  in  the  Messiah  four 
years  after  the  death  of  the  composer. 

Another  circumstance  serves  to  show  that  Handel  had 
a  very  precise  determination  that  his  work  should  re- 
main in  MS.     It  has  been  stated  that  Walsh  introduced 


294  LIFE    OF    HANDEL. 

eighteen  pieces  from  it  into  Lis  HandeVs  (400)  Songs 
from  the  Oratorios ;  but,  by  a  solitary  exception,  the 
name  of  the  work  to  which  they  belong  is  indicated 
neitlier  in  the  table  of  contents  nor  in  the  headings  of 
the  airs  !  Perhaps  Handel  could  not  resist  the  entreaties 
of  his  publisher  for  permission  to  insert  these  pieces  ; 
but  he  did  not  the  less  impose  as  a  condition  that  he 
should  not  state  from  whence  they  were  taken.  To  ex- 
plain the  matter  in  any  other  way  appears  difficult.  He 
had,  nevertheless,  permitted  the  overture  to  be  engraved 
in  1743,  for  it  is  to  be  found  in  the  order  of  its  date,  in 
the  collection  of  his  overtures,  under  the  title  of  Sacred 
Oratorio. 

Of  this  composition,  which  remained  unpublished  for 
twenty  years,  more  copies  have  been  printed  than  of 
any  other  musical  work,  by  any  other  master,  in  any 
country  in  the  world.  It  has  now  reached  the  almost 
fabulous  number  of  forty-four  editions,  thirty-three  in 
England  and  ten  in  other  countries.  Ihave  had  great 
difficulty  in  collecting  them  all,  of  which  a  detailed  list 
will  be  given  in  the  "Catalogue,"  not  merely  for  the 
satisfaction  of  a  bibliographical  curiosity,  but  as  an  in- 
teresting document  in  the  history  of  music.  There  are 
very  few  literary  works,  of  whatever  nature,  which  can 
boast  of  an  equal  success,  and  yet  there  are  two  or  three 
thousand  readers  of  books  against  one  who  can  read  a 
musical  score.  It  is  undoubtedly  one  of  Great  Britain's 
proudest  boasts,  that  a  composition  which  has  enjoyed 
such  immense  and  universal  success  should  be  set  to  En- 
glish words. 

It  has  been 'stated  that  the  first  printed  handbook  of 
the  masterpiece  of  oratorios  does  not  date  further  back 
than  the  24th  of  April,  1750,  conformably  to  an  adver- 
tisement by  Watts,  the  printer,  inserted  in  the  General 
Advertiser  of  that  day  : — "  The  Messiah^  as  it  is  to  be 
performed  on  the  1st  of  May,  at  the  Foundling  Hospital." 
This  assertion  is  erroneous.     All  the  handbooks  of  The 


FIRST    HANDBOOK     OF     "tHE    MESSIAH."       295 

Messiah  wliich  are  dated,  belong  to  a  very  early  date ; 
but  it  can  not  be  doubted  that  some  of  those  which  are 
undated,  published  by  Watts  and  Tonson,  were  printed 
for  the  performances  of  the  work  at  London,  in  1743 
and  1745.  TJie  Messiah  would  otherwise  be  the  only 
oratorio — absolutely  the  only  one — which  had  been  per- 
formed without  a  handbook,  and  no  plausible  reason  can 
be  given  for  that  exception.  Watts  announced  his  hand- 
book when  the  work  itself  was  advertised.  Thus  we 
find  in  the  number  of  the  above-named  journal  for  the 
23d  of  March,  1749: — "To-morrow  will  be  published 
(price  Is.)  Messiah^  an  oratorio,  as  it  is  performed  in  the 
Theater  Royal,  at  Covent  Garden,  printed  by  and  for 
Watts,  and  sold  by  him  and  by  Dod."*  On  the  10th 
of  April,  1750,  he  repeated  the  announcement  in  the 
same  journal,  "  as  it  is  to  be  performed  next  Thursday, 
at  the  Theater  Royal,  in  Covent  Garden."  At  all  events 
it  is  incontestable  that  the  words  had  already  been  printed 
eight  years  before,  at  Dublin.  The  Dublin  JVeios  Let- 
ter oi  the  23d  to  the  27th  of  March,  1742,  in  announc- 
ing the  work  for  the  12th  of  April  following,  adds  : — 
"  Tickets  to  be  had  at  the  Musick  Hall.  Books  are  also 
to  be  had  at  a  British  sixpence  each."f  Handel  himself 
even  made  mention  of  this  first  libretto,  in  a  letter  writ- 
ten in  1742,  which  will  presently  be  quoted.  It  is  true 
that  it  is  not  now^  to  be  found  ;  but  its  past  existence  is 
not  the  less  satisfactorily  attested. 

*  The  Sacred  Harmonic  Society  possesses  a  copy  with  this  date. 
t  Townsend,  p.  70. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

1742—1752. 

"  Samson" — "  Detttngex  Te  Deum" — Pretended  Plagiaeisms — "  Joseph" — 
"  Semele" — Correspondence  about  "  Belsiiazzar" — "  Hercules" — Acts  op 
Hostility  on  the  part  of  the  Nobles  against  Handel — His  Second 
Failure— " Occasional  Oratorio" — "Kule  Britannia" — "God  Save  the 
Kino" — "Judas  Maccab.eus" — "See  the  Conquering  Hero" — "Joshua" 
— "  Solomon" — "  Susannah" — "Fireworks  Music" — "Theodora" — "  Choicb 
of  Hercules." 

From  a  letter  written  by  Handel  in  London,  a  few 
days  after  his  return  from  Dublin,  it  may  be  gathered 
that  he  had  not  then  absolutely  determined  upon  what 
he  should  do. 

"  To   Charles  Jennens^  JEsq.^  Junior^  at   Gopsal^  near 
Atherstone.     ( Coventry  Bag.) 

"London,  September  9th,  1'742. 

"Dear  S^, — It  was  indeed  your  humble  servant 
which  intended  you  a  visit  in  my  way  from  Ireland  to 
London,  for  I  certainly  would  have  given  you  a  better 
account  by  word  of  mouth  as  by  writing,  how  well  your 
Messiah  was  recived  in  that  country ;  yet,  as  a  noble 
lord,  and  not  less  than  the  Bishop  of  Elphin  (a  noble- 
man very  learned  in  musick),  has  given  his  observations 
in  writing  on  this  oratorio,  I  send  you  here  annexed  the 
contents  of  it  in  his  own  words.  I  shall  send  the  printed 
book  of  Tlte  Messiah  to  Mr.  J.  Steel  for  you. 

"  As  for  my  success  in  general  in  that  generous  and 
])()lite  nation,  I  reserve  tlie  account  of  it  till  I  have  the 
honor  to  see  you  in  London.  The  report  that  the  direc- 
tion of  the  Opera  next  winter  is  committed  to  my  care 
is  groundless.  The  gentlemen  who  have  undertaken  to 
meddle  with  harmony  can  not  agree,  and  are  quite  in  a 


TASTE    IN     IRELAND.  297 

coiifiisioD.  Whether  I  shall  do  something  in  the  orato- 
rio way  (as  several  of  my  friends  desire)  I  can  not  de- 
termine as  yet.  Certain  it  is,  that  tliis  time  twelvemonth 
I  shall  continue  my  oratorios  in  Ireland,  Avhere  they  ai"e 
going  to  make  a  large  subscription  already  for  that  pur- 
pose. 

"  If  I  had  known  that  my  Lord  Guernsey  was  so  near 
when  I  passed  Coventry,  you  may  easily  imagine,  s^,  that 
I  should  not  have  neglected  of  paying  my  respects  to 
him,  since  you  know  the  particular  esteem  I  have  for  his 
lordship.  I  think  it  a  very  long  time  to  the  month  of 
November  next,  when  I  can  have  some  hopes  of  seeing 
you  here  in  town.  Pray  let  me  hear  meanwhile  of  your 
health  and  welfare,  of  which  I  take  a  real  share,  being, 
with  an  uncommon  sincerity  and  respect,  s^,  your  most 
obliged  humble  servant, 
•  "  George  Frideric  Handel."* 

The  enthusiasm  which  his  works  had  excited  at  Dub- 
lin, and  the  personal  welcome  which  had  been  accorded 
to  him  there,  presented  a  happy  contrast  to  the  state  of 
things  under  which  Handel  had  suifered  at  London. 
This  must  very  naturally  have  inspired  him  with  a  desire 
to  return  thither,  a  project  to  which  he  refers  in  this 
letter.  He  never  accomplished  it,  however.  Still,  his 
visit  to  Ireland  had,  as  may  be  easily  imagined,  a  pro- 
found influence  on  the  taste  of  that  country.  Esther^ 
Athaliah^  Acis,  Alexcmder^s  Feast^  the  Utrecht  and 
Dettingen  Te  Deums^  the  Jubilate^  and  the  Coronation 
Anthems^  for  a  long  time  occupied  almost  exclusively 
the  musical  societies  of  that  kingdom. 

From  the  dry  tone  with  which  he  speaks  of  "  the  gen- 
tlemen who  have  undertaken  to  meddle  with  harmony," 
it  may  be  believed  that  he  had  not  ceased  to  regret  the 
Italian  Oj^era,  and  that  he  would  not  have  refused  the 
management  of  it  if  it  had  been  offered  him.  He  was 
*  Townsend,  p.  106.  See  note  at  page  267. 
1  T* 


298  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

for  a  long  time  undecided ;  industrious  as  he  was,  he  did 
nothing  during  the  end  of  the  year  1742,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  two  clianiber  duets,  and  a  chorus  and  an  air 
to  be  added  to  his  Samson^  which  was  commenced  eight 
days  after  the  completion  of  The  Messiah^  and  was  com- 
pleted in  five  weeks.  One  might  say  that  he  was  wait- 
ing for  some  proposition  on  behalf  of  his  spoiled  child, 
Italian  Opera.  At  last,  when  the  Lent  of  1743  had  ar- 
rived, he  went  to  Covent  Garden  Theater,  to  give  there 
oratorios  by  subscription,  in  six  performances,  as  he  had 
done  at  Dublin.  The  advertisement  in  the  Daily  Adver- 
tiser for  the  17th  of  February,  1743,  supplies  a  very 
clear  notion  of  the  system  which  he  adopted : 

"  By  subscription. — At  the  Theater  Royal  in  Covent 
Garden,  to-morrow,  the  18th  inst.,  will  be  performed  a 
new  oratorio,  called  Sampso?i.  Tickets  will  be  delivered 
to  subscribers  (on  paying  their  subscription  money)  at 
Mr.  Handel's  house,  in  Biooke-street,  Hanover  Square. 
Attendance  will  be  given  from  nine  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing till  three  in  the  afternoon.  Pit  and  boxes  to  be  put 
together,  and  no  person  to  be  admitted  without  tickets, 
which  will  be  delivered  that  day  at  the  office  in  Covent 
Garden  Theater,  at  half  a  guinea  each ;  first  gallery,  5s. ; 
upper  gallery,  3s.  6d.  JVota. — Each  subscriber  is  to  pay 
six  guineas  upon  taking  out  his  subscription-ticket,  which 
entitles  him  to  three  box-tickets  every  night  of  Mr.  Han- 
del's first  six  performances  in  Lent.  And  if  Mr.  Handel 
should  have  any  more  performances  after  the  first  six 
nights,  each  subscriber  may  continue  on  the  same  condi- 
tions."* 

From  a  letter  inserted  in  Faulkner''s  Journal  for  the 
12th  to  the  15th  of  March,  1743,  it  appears  that  Samson 
was  well  received  : — "  Our  friend  Mr.  Handel  is  very 
well,  and  -things  have  taken  a  quite  difiierent  turn  here 
from  what  they  did  some  time  past ;  for  the  public  will 

*  Quoted  by  Dr.  Eimbault,  in  the  preface  to  his  editiou  of  Samson  for 
the  Handel  Society. 


TRODUCTION     OF     "  S  A  M  S  O  N  ."  299 

be  no  longer  imposed  on  by  Italian  singers  and  wrong- 
headed  undertakers  of  bad  operas,  but  find  out  the 
merit  of  Mr.  Handel's  compositions  and  English  per- 
formances. That  gentleman  is  more  esteemed  now  than 
ever.  The  new  oratorio,  called  Samson^  which  he  com- 
posed since  he  left  Ireland,  has  been  performed  four 
times  to  more  crowded  audiences  than  ever  were  seen  ; 
more  people  being  turned  away  for  want  of  room  each 
night  than  hath  been  at  the  Italian  Opera.  Mr.  Dubourg 
(lately  arrived  from  Dublin)  performed  at  the  last,  and 
met  with  uncommon  applause  from  the  royal  family  and 
the  whole  audience."* 

I  am  afraid  that  there  is  much  more  of  kindness  than 
of  accuracy  in  this  letter.  The  success  was  exceptional, 
but  comparatively  so.  In  fact,  the  subscription  was  only 
once  renewed,  and  therefore  there  were  only  twelve  per- 
formances.! Would  they  have  been  hastily  concluded 
on  the  30th  of  March,  at  the  eighth  performance  of  ^mu- 
son^  if  there  had  been  such  a  great  number  of  people 
"turned  away  for  want  of  room  each  night?"  Tlie 
composer  was  under  no  compulsion,  and  he  would  have 
continued  the  performances  as  long  as  he  pleased. 

Not  one  of  the  London  journals  says  a  word  about 
this  season,  in  which  were  pioduced,  for  the  first  time, 
Samson  and  The  Jlessiah  !     What  an  age  for  the  arts  ! 

It  is  stated  that  Handel,  being  asked  the  question,  re- 
plied that  he  did  not  know  to  which  of  these  two  orato- 
rios he  gave  the  preference.  We  may  judge  by  the 
London  Daily  Post  that  Walsh  bore  the  new  master- 
piece in  some  esteem: — March  12th,  1743 — "In  a  few 
days  will  be  published  the  songs  in  /SamsonJ''  March 
19th — "This  day  is  published,  songs  in  the  Oratorio 
called  Sainson:^  April  1st — "  To-morrow  will  be  pub- 
lished a  second  collection  of  songs  in  the  Oratorio  of 

*  Townsend. 

t  Performances  of  1743  :— Samson,  eight  times ;  3Iess/Mh,  three  times  ; 
tP Allegro  and  Ode  on  St.  Cecilia'' s  Bay,  once. 


300  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

Samson  /  to  which  is  prefixed  the  overture  in  score.'* 
April  4th — "  This  day  is  pubhshed  a  second  collection, 
etc.  (as  above).  Price  4s."  April  8th — "  The  remaining 
songs  in  /Samso7i  will  be  pubhshed  to-morrow.  Price 
2s.  6d. ;  with  a  complete  index."  April  9th — "  This  day- 
is  published  the  remaining  songs,  which  complete  the 
Oratorio  of  Samson^  with  an  index  to  the  whole." 

In  spite  of  all  his  advertising,  Walsh  treated  this  ora- 
torio with  no  more  ceremony  than  the  others.  Accord- 
ing to  his  invariable  custom,  he  gave  neither  a  single  one 
of  its  eighteen  choruses,  nor  one  of  its  magnificent  and 
dramatic  recitatives.  Randall  was  the  first,  nine  or  ten 
years  after  the  death  of  the  author,  to  risk  the  publica- 
tion of  the  entire  score. 

The  poem  is  pathetically  fine.  It  was  taken  from 
Milton  by  IsTewburg  Hamilton,  who  gave  free  scope  to 
the  enthusiasm  with  which  the  genius  of  Handel  inspired 
him.  In  the  introduction  to  the  handbook,  he  says : 
"  That  poem,  indeed,  never  was  divided  by  Milton  into 
acts  or  scenes,  nor  designed  (as  he  hints  in  his  preface) 
for  the  stage ;  but  given  only  as  the  plan  of  a  tragedy 
with  choruses,  after  the  m.anner  of  the  ancients.  But  as 
Mr.  Handel  had  so  happily  introduced  here  oratorios,  a 
musical  drama,  whose  subject  must  be  scriptural,  and  in 
which  the  solemnity  of  church  music  is  agreeably  united 
with  the  most  pleasing  airs  of  the  stage,  it  would  have 
been  an  irretrievable  loss  to  have  neglected  the  opportu- 
nity of  that  great  master's  doing  justice  to  this  work; 
he  having  ali-eady  added  new  life  and  spirit  to  some  of 
the  finest  things  in  the  English  language,  particularly 
that  inimitable  Ode  of  Dryden's,  which  no  age  nor  na- 
tion ever  excelled. 

"  As  we  have  so  great  a  genius  among  us,  it  is  a  pity 
that  so  many  mean  artifices  have  been  lately  used  to 
blast  all  his  endeavors,  and  in  him  ruin  the  art  itself; 
but  he  has  the  satisfaction  of  lacing  encouraged  by  all 
true  lovers  and  real  judges  of  musick ;  in  a  more  espe- 


beard's   makeiage.  801 

cial  manner  by  tliat  illustrious  person,  whose  high  rank 
only  serves  to  make  his  knowledge  in  all  arts  and 
sciences  as  conspicuous  as  his  power  and  inclination  to 
patronize  them." 

Newburg  Hamilton  inscribed  his  poem  "  to  Frederic 
Prince  of  Wales." 

Upon  the  waste  sketch  of  an  air,  "  For  ever  let  his 
sacred  praise,"  which  is  in  the  FitzwilUam  Museum, 
Handel  has  written  the  following  memorandum  : 

"  Samson 


Micah       .     .     . 

.       97 

Manoah    .     .     . 

.       76 

Dalilah      .     .     . 

.       31 

Harapha    .     .     . 

.       34 

Messenger    .     . 

.        10 

In  all     .     888" 

Perhaps  this  referred  to  the  copyist's  bill  for  each  of 
these  parts :  Scmison,  140  pages,  etc.  What  was  the 
rate  of  payment  for  each  page  ?  It  is  not  exactly 
known  ;  but  we  may  imagine  that  the  cost  of  copying  an 
oratorio  must  have  been  rather  considerable,  for  all  the 
choral  and  orchestral  parts  had  to  be  transcribed.  The 
copy  of  an  opera  score  now-a-days  seldom  costs  less  than 
from  £60  to  £80.* 

*  The  famous  English  tenor.  Beard,  who  began  to  sing  for  Handel  in  1734, 
created  the  part  of  Samson,  in  which  he  raised  himself  to  the  first  rank  of 
singers.  Brought  up  among  the  children  at  the  Chapel  Eoyal,  he  was  an 
excellent  musician,  and  distinguished  himself  beside  by  his  irreproachable 
private  character  and  excellent  manners.  [Dictionary  of  Maskiam.]  Lady 
Henrietta  Herbert,  the  only  daughter  of  James,  Earl  of  Waldegrave,  and 
widow  of  Lord  Edward  Herbert,  the  second  son  of  the  Marquis  of 
Powis,  was  married  to  him  in  the  month  of  January,  1739.  If  it  be 
excusable  to  marry  twice,  it  must  be  when  she  chooses  an  artist  of 
merit,  who  is  also  an  honorable  man  ;  but  as  Beard  was  neither  a  duke 
nor  an  earl.  Lady  Herbert's  choice  caused  an  immense  scandal  among 
what  is  called  "  the  fashionable  world."  It  was  talked  about  for  at  least 
fifteen  days.  Lady  Mary  Wortley  Montague  made  it  the  subject  of  one 
of  her  smart  letters  addressed  to  Lady  Pomfret :— "  Lady  Harriet  Her- 


302  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

Handel  being  reinstalled  in  London,  set  to  work  again 
and  wrote  Semele^  from  the  3d  of  June  to  the  4th  of 
July,  when  he  commenced  the  famous  Te  JDeimi  and 
Anthem  for  the  victory  of  Dettingen,  which  gloriously 
rescued   fi-om   almost    certain   ruin  the  Austro-English 

bert  furnished  the  tea-tables  here  with  fresh  tattle  for  the  last  fortnight. 
I  was  one  of  the  first  who  was  informed  of  her  adventure  by  Lady  Gage, 
who  was  told  that  morning  by  a  priest,  that  she  had  desired  him  to  marry 
her  the  next  day  to  Beard,  who  sings  in  the  farces  at  Drury  Lane.  He 
refused  her  that  good  oflB.ee,  and  immediately  told  Lady  Gage,  who  (hav- 
ing been  unfortunate  in  her  friends)  was  frightened  at  this  affair,  and 
asked  my  advice.  I  told  her  honestly,  that  since  the  lady  was  capable 
of  such  amours,  I  did  not  doubt,  if  this  was  broke  off,  she  would  bestow 
her  person  and  fortune  on  some  hackney-coachman  or  chairman ;  and 
that  I  really  saw  no  method  of  saving  her  from  ruin,  and  her  family 
from  dishonor,  but  by  poisoning  her ;  and  offered  to  be  at  the  expense 
of  the  arsenic,  and  even  to  administer  it  with  my  own  hands,  if  she 
would  invite  her  to  drink  tea  with  her  that  evening.  But  on  her  not 
approving  that  method,  she  sent  to  Lady  Montacute,  Mrs.  Durieh,  and 
all  the  relations  within  reach  of  messengers.  They  carried  Lady  Har- 
riet to  Twickenham,  though  I  told  them  it  was  a  bad  air  for  girls.  She 
is  since  returned  to  London,  and  some  people  believe  her  manied; 
others,  that  she  is  too  much  intimidated  by  Mr.  "Waldegrave's  threats  to 
dare  to  go  through  this  ceremony ;  but  the  secret  is  now  public,  and 
in  what  manner  it  will  conclude  I  know  not.  Her  relations  have  cer- 
tainly no  reason  to  be  amazed  at  her  constitution,  but  are  violently  sur- 
prised at  the  mixture  of  devotion  that  forces  her  to  have  recourse  to  the 
church  in  her  necessities ;  which  has  not  been  the  road  taken  by  the 
matrons  of  her  family.  Such  examples  are  very  detrimental  to  our 
whole  sex,  and  are  apt  to  influence  the  other  into  a  belief  that  we  are 
unfit  to  manage  either  hberty  or  money." 

The  witty  Lady  Mary,  who  so  well  expressed  the  indignation  of  her 
class,  would  doubtless,  in  these  days,  have  held  an  eminent  place  among 
the  defenders  of  religion  and  of  family.  Mrs.  Herbert,  however,  did 
not  repent  of  not  having  followed  the  examples  of  "  the  matrons  of  her 
family."  She  died  in  1Y53,  after  having  lived  entirely  happy  with 
Beard.  He  raised  to  her  memory  a  fine  monument  in  the  churchyard 
of  St.  Pancras,  with  the  following  inscription  : — "  On  the  8th  of  January, 
1738-9,  she  became  the  wife  of  Mr.  John  Beard,  who,  during  a  happy 
union  of  fourteen  years,  tenderly  loved  her  person  and  admired  her 
virtues ;  who  sincerely  feels  and  laments  her  loss  ;  and  must  ever  revere 
her  memory,  to  which  he  consecrates  this  mouuiuent."  \Memoirs  of  tlie 
Musical  Drama^  by  Hogarth.     Vol.  ii.] 

The  regrets  of  Beard  did  not  survive  six  years,  for  in  1759  he  mar- 
ried a  daughter  of  the  harlequin  Rich.    Alas  !    The  other  world  should 


"dettingen   te  deum."  303 

army  commanded  by  George  II.  They  were  solemnly 
sung  in  the  presence  of  the  king,  in  the  royal  chapel  of 
St.  James's,  on  the  27th  of  November,  1V43,  after  hav- 
ing been  rehearsed  on  the  18th  and  25th,  at  Whitehall 
Chapel,  during  the  forenoon.*  On  the  19th  a  journal 
spoke  of  the  rehearsal  in  these  terms: — "Yesterday, 
[Nov.  18th,  1743],  a  Te  Deura  and  Anthem,  composed 
by  Mr.  Handel  for  his  majesty,  was  rehearsed  before  a 
splendid  assembly  at  Whitehall  Chapel,  and  are  said  by 
the  best  judges  to  be  so  truly  masterly  and  sublime,  as 
well  as  new  in  their  kind,  that  they  prove  this  great 
genius  not  only  inexhaustible,  but  likewise  still  rising  to 
a  higher  degree  of  perfection."!  Posterity  has  ratified 
this  judgment.  Handel  set  to  music  five  different  times,I 
in  the  space  of  thirty  years,  the  Hymn  of  St.  Ambrose, 
and  always  with  new  beauties,  always  with  a  fresh  color. 
It  has  been  remarked  that  he  gave  each  time  to  the 
verse,  "  To  thee  all  angels  cry  aloud,"  a  plaintive  sense 
and  tune.  The  Dettingen  Te  Deum  and  Anthem^  des- 
tined to  celebrate  victory,  have  an  essentially  martial 
character.  The  trumpets  and  the  kettle-drums  mingle 
in  them  frequently  with  overpowering  brilliancy.  The 
Hymn  was  performed  at  the  commemoration  of  1784, 
with  "  fourteen  trumpets,  two  pairs  of  common  kettle- 
drums, two  pairs  of  double  drums  from  the  Tower, 
and  one  pair  of  double  bass  drums  made  expressly  for 
this  commemoration. "§     Barney  declares  that  the  effect 

be  a  vale  of  tears,  if  the  dead,  who  bear  with  thein  a  great  love  to  the 
tomb,  could  see  what  they  have  left  upon  the  earth. 

*  London  Daily  Post. 

+  Favllcner''s  Journal^  Nov.  22d  to  26th,  quoted  from  a  London  paper. 

\  Besides  the  Utrecht  Te  Be  urn  of  17  Id,  and  the  two  Chandos  Te  Deums^ 
there  was  also  that  for  Queen  Caroline,  in  1737.  (See  "  Catalogue," 
1737.) 

§  These  two  double  bass  drums  are  fimciful,  and  do  not  belong  to 
regular  music.  Burney  says,  "  two  pair  of  double  drums,  beside  the 
one  pair  of  double  bass  drums."  I  suppose  that  what  he  intended  to 
say  was,  a  pair.  Four  kettle-drums,  two  double  drums,  and  two  double 
bass  drums  were  a  very  respectable  park  of  artillery. 


304  LIFE     OP     HANDEL. 

was  indescribable.  Handel  has  written  a  great  deal  for 
the  trumpet,  and  he  was  prompted  to  do  so  by  the  tal- 
ent of  Valentin  Snow,  the  first  trumpet  in  his  orchestra. 
Snow  must  have  been  an  artist  of  the  highest  rank, 
judging  from  the  extreme  difficulty  of  many  passages 
which  were  confided  to  him.  In  the  j^resent  day,  Mr. 
Harper  alone  can  perform  without  false  notes  the  admi- 
rable accompaniment  to  the  air  in  The  Messiah^  "  Be- 
hold !  the  trumpet  shall  sound."* 

The  composition  of  the  Dettmgen  Anthem  and  the 
Te  Dewn  preceded  that  of  Joseph  and  his  Brethren^ 
which  was  written  in  August,  1*743,  and  was  given  witJi 
Se^nele^  at  Covent  Garden,  during  the  Lent  of  1744.1 
The  Daily  Post  of  the  9th  of  January,  1744,  announces: 
"  By  particular  desire,  Mr.  Handel  proposes  to  per- 
form, by  subscription,  twelve  performances,  during  next 
Lent,  and  engages  to  play  two  new  performances, 
and  some  of  his  former  oratorios,  if  time  will  permit. 
Each  subscriber  is  to  pay  four  guineas  at  the  time  he 
subscribes." 

I  quote  the  text  of  all  these  advertisements,  thinking 
that  they  will  interest  the  reader  as  much  as  they  have 
interested  me.  They  throw  a  singular  light  upon  his- 
tory ;  they  are  like  telescopes,  which  serve  to  exhibit 
distinctly  those  objects  which  distance  has  confused. 
Signora  Galli,  who  made  her  debut  in  Joseph^  was,  ac- 
cording to  Cradock,  a  favorite  pupil  of  Handel. 

Joseph  is  dedicated,  by  the  author  of  the  words, 
James  Miller,|  to  his  Grace  the  Duke  of  Montague  ;  but 
three  fourths  of  the  dedication  are  filled  with  the  praise 
of  the  composer. 

*  See  Appendix  R. 

+  Perfonnauces  of  1744: — Semele^  four  times;  Joseph^  four  times; 
Samson^  twica  ;  Saul^  twice. 

\  James  Miller,  of  Wadham  College,  Oxford,  called  "  Keverend"  by 
the  BiograpMa  Dramatica^  is  tlae  author  oi  Mahomet  (a  tragedy),  of  sev- 
eral comedies,  and  of  three  farces. 


DEDICATION    OF    "JOSEPH."  305 

"7b  his  Grace  the  Duke  of  Montague. 

"May  it  please  your  Grace,  I  have  no  other  apology 
to  make  for  presuming  to  lay  the  following  performance 
at  your  Grace's  feet,  than  the  countenance  you  are 
pleased  to  give  to  the  refined  and  sublime  entertain- 
ments of  this  kind,  and  the  generous  patronage  you 
manifest  toward  the  great  master,  by  whose  divine  har- 
mony they  are  supported.  A  master  meritorious  of  such 
a  patron,  as  he  may  be  said,  without  the  least  adulation, 
to  have  shown  a  higher  degree  of  excellence  in  each  of 
the  various  kinds  of  composition,  than  any  one  who  has 
preceded  him  ever  arrived  at  in  a  single  branch  of  it ; 
and  to  have  so  peculiar  a  felicity  in  always  making  his 
strain  the  tongue  of  his  subject,  that  his  music  is  sure  to 
talk  to  the  purpose,  whether  the  words  it  is  set  to  do  so 
or  not.  'Tis  a  pity,  however,  my  Lord,  that  such  a  ge- 
nius should  be  put  to  the  drudgery  of  hammering  for 
fire  where  there  is  no  flint,  and  of  giving  a  sentiment  to 
the  poet's  metre  before  he  can  give  one  to  his  owm  mel- 
ody." 

The  remainder  of  the  dedication  asks  pardon  of  the 
Duke  of  Montague  for  the  weakness  of  the  poem,  which 
is  nevertheless  thought  to  be  the  best  which  Handel  has 
treated.  The  reader  wall  understand,  of  course,  that  I 
do  not  refer  to  those  which  were  taken  from  Milton  and 
Dryden. 

Arnold  has  called  Semele^  which  preceded  Joseph^  "  a 
dramatic  performance,"  that  is  to  say,  he  did  not  con- 
sider it  precisely  as  an  opera.  Main  waring  describes  it 
as  "  an  English  opera,  but  called  an  oratorio,  and  per- 
formed as  such  at  Covent  Garden."  The  General  Ad- 
vertiser of  the  10th  of  February,  1744,  adds,  in  announc- 
ing it : — "After  the  manner  of  an  oratorio."  Without 
being  very  puritanical,  one  has  some  difiiculty  in  classi- 
fying the  daughter  of  Cadmus,  who  was  burnt  to  death 
in  the  embraces  of  that  stupid  Jupiter,  among  the  wor- 


806  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

shipful  company  of  the  oratorios.  Several  indications 
of  the  poem  do  not  absohitely  agree  with  the  idea  which 
we  have  formed  of  a  sacred  drama.  For  example,  in  the 
third  act,  scene  4: — "Jupiter  enters;  oifers  to  embrace 
Semele  ;  she  looks  kindly  at  him,  but  retires  a  little  from 
him."  The  summary  at  the  beginning  of  the  handbook 
has  certainly  not  a  very  religious  flavor : — ''''Argument. 
— After  Jupiter's  amour  with  Europa,  the  daughter  of 
Agenor,  king  of  Phoenicia,  he  again  incenses  Juno  by 
a  new  affair  in  the  same  family,  viz.,  with  Semele,  niece 
of  Europa,  and  daughter  of  Cadmus,  king  of  Thebes. 
Semele  Is  on  the  point  of  marriage  with  Athamas,  a 
prince  of  Boeotia ;  which  marriage  is  about  to  be  solem- 
nized in  the  Temple  of  Jmio,  goddess  of  marriages, 
when  Jupiter,  by  ill  omens,  interrupts  the  ceremony,  and 
afterward  transports  Semele  to  a  private  abode  prepared 
for  her.  Juno,  after  many  contrivances,  at  length  as- 
sumes the  shape  and  voice  of  Ino,  sister  to  Semele,  by 
the  help  of  which  disguise,  and  artful  insinuations,  she 
prevails  with  Semele  to  make  a  request  to  Jupiter,  which 
being  granted,  must  end  in  her  ruin." 

However,  since  Handel  caused  "this  affiiir"  to  be  sung 
in  the  sacred  fashion — that  is  to  say,  without  action  (as 
Acis^  which  has  quite  as  much  the  appearance  of  an 
opera),  I  think  that  we  ought  to  classify  it,  with  Acis^ 
among  the  serenatas.  It  is  amusing  to  see  how  men 
trifle  with  words.  They  would  not  allow  Esther  or  Ju- 
das Maccdbcmis  to  be  played  in  action,  on  account  of  the 
profanity  ;  but  they  had  no  objection  to  listen  to  Semele^ 
even  in  Lent,  because  it  was  "  after  the  manner  of  an 
oratorio?'' 

It  was  after  the  season  of  1744  that  ITaudel  composed 
JBelshazzar  /  upon  which  subject  several  letters  were  ad- 
dressed by  him  to  Charles  Jennens,  the  author  of  the 
words.  They  have  been  preserved  by  the  fixmily  of  the 
poet,  and  were  published  by  Mr.  Ilorsley  in  the  preface 
to  his  edition  of  The  Messiah.     This  gentleman  did  not 


CORRESPONDENCE     ON     "rELSIIAZZAR."       307 

know  to  what  oratorio  reference  was  made,  but  the  dates 
upon  the  MSS.  leave  no  doubt  that  it  was  Belshazzar^ 

"London,  June  9,  1*744 
"  Dear  Sir — Now  I  should  be  extremely  glad  to  re- 
ceive the  first  act,  or  what  is  ready,  of  the  new  oratorio 
with  which  you  intend  to  favor  me,  that  I  might  employ 
all  my  attention  and  time,  in  order  to  answer,  in  some 
measure,  the  great  obligation  I  lay  under.  This  new 
favor  will  greatly  increase  my  obligations. — I  remain, 
with  all  possible  gratitude  and  respect,"  etc.,  etc. 

"July  19,  1U4. 
"  Dear  Sir — At  my  arrival  in  London,  wdiich  was  yes- 
terday, I  immediately  j^erused  the  act  of  the  oratorio 
with  which  you  favored  me,  and  the  little  time  only  I 
had  it,  gives  me  great  pleasure.  Your  reasons  for  the 
length  of  the  first  act  are  entirely  satisfactory  to  me,  and 
it  is  likewise  my  opinion  to  have  the  following  acts  short. 
I  shall  be  very  glad,  and  much  obliged  to  you,  if  you 
will  soon  favor  me  with  the  remaining  acts.  Be  pleased 
to  point  out  these  passages  in  The  Messiah  which  you 
think  require  altering.  I  desire  my  humble  respects  and 
thanks  to  my  Lord  Guernseyf  for  his  many  civility's  to 
me,  and  believe  me  to  be,"  etc.,  etc. 

"London,  Agost  ye  21,  1144. 
"Dear  Sir — The  second  actiof  the  oratorio  I  have 
received  safe,  and  own  myself  highly  obliged  to  you  for 
it.  I  am  greatly  pleased  with  it,  and  shall  use  my  best 
endeavors  to  do  it  justice.  I  can  only  say  that  I  im- 
patiently w^ait  for  the  third  act,  and  desire  to  believe  me 
to  be,"  etc.,  etc. 

*  At  the  foot  of  the  first  page,  "Angefangen  den  23  Agost,  1744" 
(commenced  on  the,  etc.)  After  the  first  act,  "  September  3,  fine  della 
parte  prima,  den  15  dieses  vollig"  (3d  of  September,  first  part,  entirely 
finished  on  the  J  5th  instant).  After  the  second  act,  "  Fine  della  parte 
2<^*,  September  10,  1744."     The  last  page  of  the  third  act  is  lost. 

t  Subsequently  Earl  of  Aylesford. 


308  LIFE    OP    HANDEL. 

"London,  September  13,  1744. 
"  Dear  Sir — Your  most  excellent  oratorio  has  given 
me  great  delight  in  setting  it  to  musick,  and  still  engages 
me  warmly.  It  is  indeed  a  noble  piece,  very  grand  and 
uncommon ;  it  has  furnished  me  with  expressions,  and 
has  given  me  opportunity  to  some  very  particular  ideas, 
beside  so  many  great  chorus's.  I  intreat  you  heartily  to 
favor  me  soon  with  the  last  act,  which  I  expect  with 
anxiety,  that  I  may  regulate  myself  the  better  as  to  the 
length  of  it.  I  profess  myself  highly  obliged  to  you  for 
so  generous  a  present,  and  desire  you  to  believe  me  to 
be,  with  great  esteem  and  respect,  sir,"  etc.,  etc. 

"London,  October  2,  1744. 
"Dear  Sir — I  received  the  third  act  with  a  great 
deal  of  pleasure,  as  you  can  imagine,  and  you  may  believe 
that  I  think  it  a  very  fine  and  sublime  oratorio,  only  it  is 
really  too  long  ;  if  I  should  extend  the  musick,  it  would 
last  four  hours  and  more.  I  retrenched  already  a  great 
deal  of  musick,  that  I  might  preserve  the  poetry  as  much 
as  I  could  ;  yet  still  it  may  be  shorten'd.  The  anthems 
come  in  very  properly ;  but  would  not  the  words,  '  Tell 
it  out  among  the  heathens  that  the  Lord  is  King,'  be 
sufficient  for  our  chorus  ?  The  anthem,  '  The  Lord  pre- 
serveth  all  them  that  love  him  ;  but  scattereth  abroad  all 
the  ungodly.'  (Vers,  and  chorus),  'My  mouth  shall 
speak  the  praise  of  the  Lord,  and  let  all  flesh  give  thanks 
unto  His  holy  name,  for  ever  and  ever — Amen,'  concludes 
well  the  oratorio,"  etc.,  etc. 

The  excisions  were  effected  in  "  the  sublime  oratorio ;" 
but  Charles  Jennens  would  not  abate  one  of  his  verses, 
and  the  handbook  was  printed  exactly  as  it  had  been 
written,  with  this  Nota  Bene: — "IST.B. — The  oratoi'io 
being  thought  too  long,  several  things  are  marked  with 
a  black  line  drawn  down  the  margin,  as  omitted  in  the 
performance."     Handel  had  cut  with  an  unsparing  knife ; 


"belshazzak."  809 

for  more  than  two  hundred  Imes  are  bordered  with  the 
fatal  sign  of  mourning. 

The  work  was  announced  for  the  2.3d,  the  25th,  and 
the  26th  of  March,  1745,  in  the  Daily  Advet'tiser,  under 
the  title  of  JBelteshazzar,  the  surname  of  the  prophet 
Daniel  in  Babylon.*  The  present  title  was  only  given 
on  the  27th,  the  day  of  the  first  performance.  That  of 
Selteshazzar  must  have  been  one  of  Charles  Jennens's 
ideas,  for  amateur  poets  are  fond  of  names  which  give 
them  the  air  of  being  very  learned.  In  Joseph  and  his 
Bretlwen^  Pharaoh  says  to  Joseph,  "  Let  Zaphnath-paa- 
neah  be  thy  name."f  Would  it  not  have  been  a  capital 
notion  to  have  called  the  oratorio  Zaph7iath-paa7ieah 
and  his  Brethren  f 

In  the  MS.  of  Belshazzar^  this  curious  indication  of 
time  appears  above  a  little  symphony  in  the  second  act, 
"  Allegro  postillions,"  which  seems  as  if  Handel  wished 
this  to  be  played  at  mail-coach  speed. 

Before  JBelshazzar — by  which,  according  to  the  letter 
of  the  13th  of  September,  Handel  set  great  store — he 
had  composed  (between  the  19th  of  July  and  the  17th 
of  August,  1744),  Hercules^  which  was  announced  as  "a 
musical  drama,"  in  the  General  Advertiser  of  the  1st  of 
January,  1745,  and  was  engraved  under  the  title  of  "an 
oratorio."  Mr.  Salaman,  in  his  lectures  "  On  Music  in 
Connection  with  the  Dance,"  has  performed  the  War- 
rior's March  and  the  chorus,  "  Crown  with  festal  pomp," 
from  IlercideS'.  If  the  remainder  of  the  score  equal  these 
two  magnificent  pieces,  Hercules  is  a  masterpiece  un- 
known to  the  public. 

The  last  season  (during  the  Lent  of  1744)  had  been  far 
from  brilliant.  Handel  seems  to  have  trusted  in  the 
success  of  the  two  novelties,  Belshazzar  and  Hercules^  to 

*  Daniel  ii.  26. 

t  Genesis  xli.  45.  The  handbook  states  that  these  words  signify 
"  Saviour  of  the  World."  We  always  see  the  entire  world  in  our  home, 
be  it  ever  so  small. 


'310  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

repair  his  losses,  for  he  opened  the  campaign  very  early 
and  with  a  certain  pretension.  It  has  been  stated  that 
the  Italian  Theater,  in  the  Playmarket,  was  closed  on  the 
10th  of  June,  1744,  for  want  of  audiences.  This  theater 
he  hired,  and  then  pubUshed  the  following  advertise- 
ment, in  the  General  Advertiser  of  the  20th  of  October, 
1744: — " By  particular  desire;  Mr.  Handel  proposes  to 
perform,  by  subscription,  twenty-four  times  during  the 
winter  season,  at  the  King's  Theater,  in  the  Hay  market, 
and  engages  to  exhibit  two  new  performances  and  sev- 
eral of  his  former  oratorios.  The  first  performance  will 
be  on  Saturday,  the  3d  of  November,  and  will  continue 
every  Saturday  till  Lent^  and  then  on  Wednesdays  and 
Fridays.  Each  subscriber  is  to  pay  eight  guineas  at  the 
time  he  subscribes,  which  entitles  him  to  one  box  ticket 
for  each  performance.  Subscriptions  are  taken  in  at  Mr. 
Handel's  house,  in  Brook-street,  near  Hanover  Square ; 
at  Mr.  Walsh's,  in  Catherine-street,  in  the  Strand ;  and 
at  White's  Chocolate  House,  in  St.  James's-street.  Those 
gentlemen  and  ladies  who  have  already  favored  Mr. 
Handel  in  the  subscription,  are  desired  to  send  for  their 
tickets  at  his  house,  in  Brook-street,  where  attendance 
wall  be  given  every  day  (Sundays  excepted),  from  nine 
o'clock  in  the  morning  until  three  in  the  afternoon." 

On  the  27th  of  October,  the  General  Advertiser  an- 
nounced, for  the  3d  of  November,  "  an  oratorio  called 
Deborah^  with  a  concerto  on  the  organ ;"  and  on  the  3d 
of  November,  the  advertisement  of  the  20th  of  October 
was  repeated,  indicating  the  first  performance  for  that 
evening.  The  house  must  have  been  but  thinly  attended, 
for  the  same  journal,  of  the  otli  of  November,  inserted 
this  advertisement : — "  As  the  greatest  part  of  Mr.  Han- 
del's subscribers  are  not  in  town,  he  is  requested  not  to 
perform  till  Saturday,  the  24th  instant ;  but  the  subscrip- 
tion is  still  continued  to  be  taken  in  at  Mr.  Handel's 
house,  as  before." 

On  the  24th  of  November  was  announced  "  Deborah, 


FACTIOUS     OPPOSITION.  311 

with  a  concerto  on  the  organ  ;"  on  the  1st  of  December, 
'"''Semele^  after  the  manner  of  an  oratorio,"  with  "  addi- 
tions and  alterations,  and  a  concerto  on  the  organ ;"  on 
the  8th  of  December,  Semele^  for  the  second  time  ;  after 
which  a  new  interruption  (which  is  unexphiined)  up  to 
the  5th  of  January,  1745,  when  the  performances  were 
resumed  with  "  Hercules^  a  new  musical  drama ;"  on  Jan- 
uary the  12th,  Hercules  again  ;  then  another  suspension 
(which  also  is  unexplained)  up  to  the  1st  of  March,  when 
Samson  was  given,  which  was  repeated  on  the  8th.  On 
the  last  named  day,  the  adveritsement  announced  that 
"proper  care  will  be  taken  to  make  the  house  warm." 
Afterward  came,  in  regular  order,  Saul^  Joseph^  Bel- 
shazzar^  and  "  The  Sacred  Oratorio,  with  a  concerto  on 
the  organ."* 

Even  such  works  as  these  could  not  till  the  King's 
Theater,  and  Handel  was  obliged  to  stop  short  on  the 
23d  of  April,  at  the  sixteenth  performance. 

The  faction  of  the  nobles  still  preserved  its  inconceiv- 
able fury  against  him.  He  chose  the  Lent  season  for  his 
performances,  because  all  the  theaters  being  then  closed, 
and  all  kinds  of  pleasure  being  interdicted,  he  had  a 
better  chance  of  attracting  an  audience.  But  some  of 
the  great  lords  violated  even  the  severity  of  Lent,  and 
invited  the  fashionable  world  to  theii-  festivities,  in  order 
to  beguile  them  from  the  temptation  of  attending  the 
oratorios.  Hawkins  says : — "  In  the  succeeding  year 
[1743],  he  had  a  slight  turn  of  that  disorder  which  had 
driven  him  to  seek  relief  from  the  baths  of  Aix-la-Cha- 
pelle ;  and,  to  add  to  this  misfortune,  an  opposition  to 
him  and  his  entertainment  was  set  on  foot  by  some  per- 
sons of  distinction,  who,  by  card  assemblies  and  other 
amusements,  at  that  time  not  usual  in  the  Lent  season, 
endeavored  to  make  his  audiences  as  thin  as  possible. 

*  Performances  during  1745 : — Deborah^  twice  ;  Semele^  once ;  Hercules, 
twice ;  Samson^  twice ;  Saul,  once ;  Joseph,  twice ;  Belshazzar,  three 
times ;  Messiah,  twice. 


312  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

The  effects  of  this  association  he  felt  for  a  season  or  two, 
in  the  course  whereof  he  frequently  performed  to  houses 
that  would  not  pay  his  expenses."  Burney*  makes  men- 
tion of  a  certain  Lady  Brown,  who  gave  very  fine  con- 
certs and  "  distinguished  herself  as  a  persevering  enemy 
to  Handel."  In  "  The  Commemoration"  f  (still  believing 
that  The  Messiah  failed  at  London,  in  1'741),  he  says 
that  its  miscarriage  was  "  to  be  wholly  ascribed  to  the 
resentment  of  the  many  great  personages  whom  Handel 
had  oifended  in  refusing  to  compose  for  Senesino,  which 
inflexibility  being  construed  into  insolence,  was  the  cause 
of  powerful  oppositions,  that  were  at  once  oppressive  and 
mortifying." 

Always  more  impassioned  than  men,  both  in  their 
hatred  and  in  their  love,  the  women  were  the  most  furi- 
ous against  him.  They  it  was  who  invented  those  balls 
and  tea-parties  which  were  so  fatal  to  the  performances 
of  Handel.  Some  lines,  in  a  satire  by  Smollett,  prove 
to  what  petty  means  these  great  ladies  had  recourse. 
Smollett,  in  stigmatizing  the  counsels  of  "  a  man  of  the 
world,"  who  gives  him  bad  advice  as  to  how  to  make  his 
fortime,  says : 

"  Again  shall  Handel  raise  his  laureled  brow, 
Again  shall  harmony  with  rapture  glow. 
The  spells  dissolve — the  combination  breaks  ; 
And  Punch,  no  longer  Frasi's  rival,  squeaks. 
Lo  !  Kussell  falls  a  sacrifice  to  whim. 
And  starts  amazed,  in  Newgate,  from  his  dream, 
"With  tremblmg  hands  implores  their  promised  aid, 
And  sees  their  favor  like  a  vision  fade  !"t 

This  Russell,  says  a  note  attached  to  his  name,  was  "  a 
famous  mimic  and  singer,  engaged  by  certain  ladies  of 
quality,  who  engaged  him  to  set  up  a  puppet-show  in 
opposition  to  the  oratorios  of  Handel ;  but  the  town 
not  seconding  the  capricious  undertaking  to  injure  one 

*  Page  671.  +  Page  25. 

X  Satire,  by  Smollett,  called  "  Advice,"  1746-47,  in  the  34th  volume  of 
the  Collection  of  the  Worlcs  of  the  Bntish  Poets. 


HORACE     W  ALP  OLE.  313 

against  whom  they  were  unreasonably  prejudiced,  de- 
serted their  manager,  whom  they  had  promised  to  sup- 
port, and  let  him  sink  under  the  expenses  they  had 
entailed  upon  him.  He  was  accordingly  thrown  into 
2>nso9i,  where  his  disappointment  got  the  better  of  his 
reason,  and  he  remained  m  all  the  ecstacy  of  despair,  till 
at  last  his  generous  patroiiesses^  after  much  solicitation, 
were  prevailed  upon  to  q,o\\qqX>  five  2>ou7ids^  on  the  pay- 
ment of  which  he  was  admitted  into  Bedlam^  where  he 
continued  bereft  of  his  understanding,  and  died  in  the 
utmost  misery  I" 

In  Newburg  Hamilton's  preface  to  his  arrangement  of 
jScmiso?i,  there  is  another  trace  of  the  indignation  which 
such  proceedings  caused  among  all  true  friends  of  art : 
"As  we  have  so  great  a  genius  among  us,  it  is  a  pity 
that  so  many  mean  artifices  have  been  lately  used  to 
blast  all  his  endeavors,  and  in  him  the  art  itself.  But  he 
has  the  satisfaction  of  being  encouraged  by  all  the  true 
lovers  and  real  judges  of  music." 

One  of  Horace  Walpole's  letters  bears  witness  that 
there  was  nothing  exaggerated  in  the  complaints  of  those 
defenders  of  Handel : 

"  Arlington  Street,  24th  February,  1143. 
"  But  to  come  to  more  7*eal  contests  [he  had  just  been 
S2:>eaking  of  the  war  in  Flanders],  Handel  has  set  up  an 
oratorio  against  the  operas,  and  succeeds.  He  has  hired 
all  the  goddesses  from  farces,  and  the  singers  of  roast- 
beef*  from  between  the  acts  at  both  theaters,  with  a 

*  *'  The  gallery"  was  then  accustomed  to  call  for  a  song  called  "  The 
Eoast-beef  of  Old  England,"  either  between  the  acts  or  at  the  end  of 
the  performance,  as  they  now  call  for  "  Hot  Codlings"  at  Christmas.  The 
former  song  is  engraved  in  the  British  Musical  Miscellany  (vol.  iii.)  The 
author  of  both  words  and  music  was  named  Leveridge,  and  kept  a  cof- 
fee-house in  Tavistock-street  in  1726. — Biogmphia  Dt-amatica.  He  was 
bomewhat  of  a  poet,  an  actor,  a  singer,  and  a  composer.  His  career  com- 
menced in  1693,  and  in  the  Aiucdotes  of  Music  it  is  stated  that  he  was 
singing  in  Co  vent  Garden  at  the  age  of  eighty  years!  He  died  in  1759, 
eighty-eight  years  old. 

14 


314  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

man  witli  one  note  in  his  voice,  and  a  girl  without  ever 
an  one,  and  so  they  sing  and  make  brave  hallelujahs,  and 
the  good  company  encore  the  recitative,  if  it  happens  to 
have  any  cadence  like  what  they  call  a  tune." 

It  is  of  the  proud  Handel,  of  nothing  less  than  Sam- 
son^ of  the  famous  English  tenor  Beard,  of  Mrs.  Gibber, 
and  of  Signora  Avoglio,*  that  Horace  Walpole  speaks 
in  this  tone.  When  you  see  a  man  gifted  with  such  an 
intelligent  and  refined  taste  falling  into  these  aberrations, 
judge  how  much  malignant  hatred  must  have  been  nec- 
essary to  so  stop  up  his  mind  and  his  ears  ;  and  imagine 
what  must  have  been  the  disposition  of  the  servile  crowd 
— servunipecu8 — which  always  follows  the  torrent,  like 
children  after  drums. 

This  unw^orthy  w^ar,  waged  against  a  single  man  by  a 
powerful  class,  was  only  too  successful.  Whatever  they 
could  do,  Handel  spared  nothing  in  order  to  give  to  his 
performances  all  possible  perfection.  The  names  of  the 
most  celebrated  instrumentalists  of  the  epoch — Caporale 
the  violoncellist,  Lampe  the  bassoon-player.  Snow  the 
trumpeter,  Weideman  the  flutist,  Castrucci,  Clegg,  and 
Dubourg,  violinists,  and  Powell  the  harpist,  were  per- 
manently attached  to  his  orchestra,  which  was,  moreover, 
very  numerous.  Having  a  great  deal  of  respect  for  him- 
self, he  naturally  had  a  great  deal  for  others,  and  there- 
fore, according  to  Barney,  who  was  himself  a  member 
of  his  company,  "he  w\as  accustomed  to  i)ay  his  per- 
formers, not  only  honestly,  but  generously."  The  pains 
which  people  took  to  deprive  him  of  audiences,  put  it 
beyond  his  power  to  pay  his  expenses.  All  that  he  had 
saved  out  of  his  Irish  profits,  after  the  payment  of  his 
creditors  in  1737,  was  soon  absorbed ;  he  contracted  new 
debts,  and  was  compelled  for  the  second  time  to  suspend 
his  payments  about  the  beginning  of  1745.  That  very 
same  year,  the  renown  of  his  works  was  increasmg  more 
*  Those  three  artists  created  the  leading  parts  in  Samson. 


SECOND    FAILUEE.  315 

and  more  in  Germany,  and  lie  was  elected  first  Honorary- 
Member  of  the  Society  of  Musical  Science,  founded  at 
Leipsic,  and  limited  to  a  small  number  of  members.* 

He  seems  to  have  been  for  a  moment  overwhelmed  by 
his  second  failure.  Between  Helshazzar  (finished  during 
the  month  of  October,  1744)  and  the  Occasional  Orato- 
rio (at  the  commencement  of  1746)  nothing  by  him  can 
be  found,  except  an  unpublished  chamber  duet,  dated 
the  31st  of  August,  1745.  Rare  interruption  of  work  in 
his  laborious  life  !  We  may  imagine  with  what  sadness 
it  was  filled  !  Not  only  was  he  ruined — he  was  a  bank- 
rupt ;  and  his  enemies  triumphed  in  his  humiliation. 
But  neither  his  genius  nor  his  courage  abandoned  him. 

The  Occasional  Oratorio^  which  is  always  spoken  of 
as  a  kind  of  pasticcio,  is,  on  the  contrary,  a  work  of  the 
first  order,  which  deserves  to  be  known.  "  It  seems," 
says  Mr.  Macfarren,  "  to  have  been  written,  or  rather 
compiled,  in  great  haste,  being  composed  chiefly  of 
pieces  from  Israel  in  Egypt  and  other  of  Handel's  pre- 
vious works,  and  such  new,  matter  only  as  was  necessary 
to  connect  these  selections."!  Dr.  William  Horsley  said 
the  same  thing  in  1842,  in  the  preface  to  his  edition  of 
The  Jfessiah. 

One  is  astonished  to  meet  with  such  statements  from 
the  pens  of  these  erudite  musicians.  From  an  accurate 
analysis  of  the  score,  it  appears  that  the  0ccasi07ial 
Oratorio  has  only  borrowed  the  following  pieces  : — "  I 
w^ill  sing  unto  the  Lord,"  "  He  gave  them  hailstones," 
"  Who  is  like  unto  thee,"  "Thou  shalt  bring  them  in," 
"  The  enemy  said"  {Israel  m  Egypt)^  and  "  God  save  the 
King"  {Coronation  Anthem).  It  is  to  be  remarked  that 
all  these  borrowed  pieces  are  in  the  third  act,  while  the 

*  Mezler'a  Musikalisclie  BibliotJielc,  vol.  iii.,  p.  357,  quoted  by  Mr.  John 
Bishop,  of  Cheltenham,  in  his  Brief  Memoir  of  George  Frederic  Handel. 
This  short  notice,  recently  published,  is  decidedly  the  most  exact  account 
of  Handel,  chronologically  speaking. 

t  Pretace  to  the  handbook  of  Jadas  Mdccab(Bus  for  the  Sacred  Har- 
monic Society. 


316  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

first  two  acts  are  original.  It  seems  as  if  the  composer, 
after  having  finished  the  first  two  acts,  was  in  a  hurry  to 
finish  for  some  reason  or  other,  and,  for  want  of  time, 
liad  recourse  to  his  Israel  in  Egypt  (which  had  not  suc- 
ceeded) to  fill  up  the  third  act.  Let  us  examine  what 
he  had  done  before  he  was  interrupted.  I  here  make 
use  of  the  words  of  Mr.  Lacy,  who  had  the  kindness  to 
make  the  analysis  for  me. 

"  The  overture  has  been  one  of  the  most  favorite 
things  he  ever  composed ;  and  is,  perhaps,  more  gener- 
ally known  and  admired  than  any  other  produced  by 
him.  A  flow  of  melody  pervades  it  throughout.  The 
opening  is  exceedingly  fine,  the  allegro  most  spirited  and 
singularly  pleasing,  and  the  march  familiar  to  all  ears. 
'  O  Lord,  how  many  are  my  foes,'  which  is  accompanied 
by  a  solo  hautboy  in  a  most  expressive  strain,  is  a  com- 
position full  of  beauty.  '  Jehovah,  to  my  words  give 
ear'  (wherein  the  violoncello  bears  the  prominent  part) 
is  worthy  of  all  that  can  be  expressed  in  its  praise.  It 
is  of  that  devotional,  imploring  character  which  Handel's 
skill  so  successfully  treats.  Another  fine  composition 
(for  a  bass  voice)  is  the  air,  *  His  scepter  is  the  rod  of 
power.'  In  this  song  of  fiery  energy  the  contrast  is 
beautiful,  and  evidences  the  master's  superior  mind,  at 
the  words  '  His  seat  is  truth.'  '  Jehovah  is  my  shield' 
has  always  been  a  popular  favorite.  The  chorus,  'God 
found  them  guilty,'  which  ends  the  first  part,  is  another, 
of  his  truly  grand  compositions.  The  celebrated  air, 
*  O  liberty,'  is  generally  known.  It  begins  the  second 
part,  and  is  followed  by  another  tine  air,  '  Prophetic 
visions.'  It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  at  one  part  of  this 
air,  after  a  sudden  and  general  pause,  the  voice,  unac- 
companied, gives  forth,  at  the  words  '  War  shall  cease, 
welcome  peace,'  the  exact  subject  of  Arne's  '  Rule  Bri- 
tannia.' We  have  next  a  splendid  bass  song,  '  To  God, 
our  strength,  sing  loud  and  clear ;'  with  an  obligato 
trumpet  accompaniment,  echoed  in  its  passages  by  the 


"occasional   oratokio."  Sll 

hautboy,  and  leading  into  a  movement  in  which  the  full 
chorus  suddenly  joins  witli  a  powerful  and  startling 
effect.  The  air  that  follows,  '  He  has  his  mansion  fixed 
on  high,'  is  a  placid  and  tender  melody  in  a  minor  key, 
the  accompaniments  of  which  (the  violins  and  violoncelli) 
maintain,  as  it  were,  an  expressive  dialogue  with  the 
voice,  portraying  beauties  not  easy  to  be  pointed  out  by 
the  pen.  The  '  Hallelujah,'  with  full  instrumentation, 
concluding  the  second  part,  is  another  masterpiece.  In 
the  air,  '  When  warlike  ensigns  wave  on  high'  (again  a 
composition  of  the  highest  merit),  one  of  this  great 
writer's  discriminating  and  happy  changes,  succeeding 
the  martial  sti-ain,  comes  soothingly  on  the  listener's  ear 
and  mind,  at  tlie  words,  '  The  frighted  peasant  sees  his 
fields  laid  bare,'  and  '  Ko  pasture  now  the  plain  affords.' 
Another  well-known  and  generally  admired  song  (bass) 
is  '  The  sword  that's  drawn  in  virtue's  cause.'  The  cho- 
rus, which  takes  up  the  last  words  of  this  song, '  Millions 
unborn,'  was,  very  probably,  intended  by  Handel  as  the 
finale.  Without  enumerating  all  the  others,  we  will 
merely  add  the  tenor  song,  '  Tyrants,  whom  no  cove- 
nants bind,'  '  May  balmy  peace,'  and  particularly  the 
sweet  minor  air,  '  AVhen  Israel,  like  the  bounteous 
Nile.'  "* 

Let  the  reader  judge  as  to  how  much  truth  there  is 
in  the  common  opinion  as  to  the  Occasional  Oratorio. 
Out  of  thirty-seven  airs,  duets,  and  choruses,  this  pre- 
tended compilation  contains  thirty-one  which  are  per- 
fectly new  If  Let  it  be  observed,  also,  that  when  Han- 
del made  a  pasticcio,  he  seldom  took  the  trouble  to 
transcribe  it ;  but  there  is  an  entire  MS.  of  the  Occa- 
sional Oratorio,  and  the  numerous  erasures  bear  witness 
to  its  right  to  be  considered  an  original  work.  I  can 
only  find  one  explanation  for  the  vulgar  erroi' ;  which  is, 
that  as  the  pieces  which  the  composer  made  use  of,  wlien 
he  had  no  time  to  finish  the  work,  are  all  very  popular, 
*  See  "  Catalogue."  t  Ibid. 


318  LIFE    OF    HANDEL. 

they  have  more  especially  attracted  the  attention  of 
those  critics  who  make  but  a  superficial  examination  of 
the  scores.  But  if  these  be  abstracted,  thirty-one  orig- 
inal pieces  remain,  such  as  would  create  the  reputation 
of  thirty-one  new  composers. 

Fortune  acts  as  capriciously  by  the  w^orks  of  men  as 
she  does  by  men  themselves.  When  she  frowns  upon  a 
work  every  thing  turns  against  it,  and  its  beauties,  how- 
ever sui-passing,  are  regarded  by  none.  "  O  liberty, 
thou  choicest  treasure,"  with  which  Handel  adorned 
Judas  Maccahceus  (already  sufficiently  rich),  is  one  of 
the  spoils  of  the  Occasional  Oratorio.  It  is  exactly  in 
its  place,  with  its  divine  echo  accompaniment  on  the 
violoncello,  in  the  MS.  of  the  Occasional  Oratorio^  and 
was  engraved  in  the  edition  of  the  same,  pubhshed  by 
Walsh  before  that  of  Judas^  where  it  did  not  appear.  It 
is  not  to  be  found  either  in  the  orio*inal  MS.  of  Judas, 
nor  in  the  copy  of  that  oratorio  which  is  in  the  Smith 
collection,  as  was  originally  made.  It  was  afterward  in- 
serted in  this  copy  by  Handel  himself,  who  wrote  it  at 
full  length  with  his  own  hand,  as  well  as  the  recitative 
by  which  he  causes  it  to  be  jjreceded,  "To  heaven's 
immortal  King."  The  sublime  copyist  marked  it  for 
"  Israelite  woman,"  and  at  the  end  he  has  written, 
"  Segue  I'aria  :  '  Come,  ever-smiling  liberty.'  " 

Dr.  Morell,  who  had  written  the  words  of  that  air  for 
Judas  3IaGcahcBus^  and  who  has  left  it  in  the  handbook 
of  his  poem,  observes  parenthetically,  with  pleasant  in- 
difference, "  the  following  air  was  designed  and  wrote 
for  that  place,  but  it  got,  I  know  not  how,  into  the  Oc- 
casioncd  Oratorio^  and  was  there  incomparably  set  as 
finely  executed."  This  even  leads  one  to  believe  that  the 
unknown  compiler  of  the  Occasional  Oratorio  may  be 
this  same  philosophic  Morell.  Although  Handel  always 
did  as  he  pleased  with  his  poems,  one  can  not  imagine 
that  if  it  were  otherwise  he  would  not  have  eflected 


"rule  britaxnia."  319 

such  a  fusion.     It  is  even  a  strong  measure  to  have  dealt 
in  tliis  manner  by  two  works  of  the  same  author.* 

The  Marseillaise  of  England,  "  Rule  Britannia,"  which 
is  taken  from  Alfred^  a  masque,  by  Dr.  Arne,f  is  in  great 
part  borrowed  from  the  poor  Occasional  Oratorio.  In 
reality,  it  is  by  Ilaudel ;  for  in  the  whole  air  there  are 
only  two  bars  which  do  not  belong  to  him.J;     It  will  not 

*  Thomas  Morell,  who  was  born  in  1701,  and  died  in  1784:  {BiograpMa 
Draniatica),  belonged  to  tlie  clergy,  and  was  a  good  Grecian.  lie  gained 
his  living  laboriously  by  his  pen,  and  from  a  small  benefice,  such  as  they 
seem  to  keep  in  the  Anglican  Church  expressly  for  their  most  learned 
ministers.  He  was  secretary  to  the  Society  of  Antiquarians ;  one  of  the 
wi'iters  of  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  ;  and  left  Studies  of  History  (1  vol.) ; 
Treasury  of  the  Greek  Poets^  tvith  Coinmentaries  (2  vols.) ;  Sermons  (1  vol.) ; 
Annotations  on  Locke''s  Essays  (1  vol.) ;  and  The  Use  and  Importance  of 
Music  in  the  Sacrifice  of  ThanJcsgiving,  a  Sermon  delivered  in  1747'.  Judas 
Maccalceus  was  the  first  of  his  oratorios.  He  afterward  wrote,  for  Han- 
del, Alej.ander  Boelus,  Theodora^  Jephtha,  Triumph  of  Time  ;  and  for  Smith, 
Nabal,  in  1764.  There  are,  moreover,  by  him,  a  Hecuba,  dated  1749,  and 
a  Prometheus  in  Chains,  dated  1773. 

t  Dr.  Arne's  Alfred,  which  was  an  utter  faihu'e,  appears  to  have  be- 
longed to  1751.  In  spite  of  the  great  number  of  books  upon  music  pub- 
lished in  England,  it  is  singular  how  difiicult  it  is  to  find  the  least  pre- 
cise proof.  Busby,  although  he  consecrates  a  special  article  to  Arne,  in 
his  History  of  Music,  makes  mention  of  neither  Alfred  nor  "  Eule  Britan- 
nia." The  Biographia  Bramatica  speaks  of  Alfred,  an  opera,  produced 
at  Covent  Garden  in  1745,  and  of  Alfred,  a  masque,  produced  at  Drury 
Lane  in  1751 ;  but  to  neither  of  these  is  the  name  of  Arne  attached.  The 
Companion  to  the  Playhouse  (1764),  however,  says  thoi  Alfred,  the  masque, 
was  "  about  1748."  In  a  Dictionary  of  Dates,  this  word  about  has  a  neg- 
ligent grace  which  is  perfectly  charming.  I  do  not  find  any  otlier  mu- 
sical Alfred :  what  Buruey  has  not  mentioned  in  musical  matters  must 
be  sought  at  the  source.  I  believe  that  Arne's  composition  was  of  1751, 
because  the  General  Advertiser  of  the  8th  of  May,  in  that  year,  announces : 
"  The  music  in  the  masque  of  Alfred,  published  by  J.  Oswald."  The 
first  collection  of  songs  that  I  know  of  in  which  "  Eule  Britannia^'  ap- 
peared is  Clio  and  Euterpe,  which  bears  the  date  of  1752. 

X  "  When  Britain  first"  is  note  for  note  the  stroplie  "  War  shall  cease," 
of  "  Prophetic  visions  :"  ^-^ 


r:\ 


at  Heaven's  command. 


320 


LIFE     OP     HANDEL. 


be  out  of  place  to  observe  here  that,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  national  anthem  of  Great  Britain,  "  God  save  the 

The  same  air  in  the  Occasional,  "  Prophetic  visions,"  at  the  words  "  Tri- 
umphs after  victory;"  has  supplied  the  middle  portion  of  Dr.  Arne's 
composition. 


rose    from  out   the     a 


zure  main. 


The  phrase  of  "  Triumph  after  victory"  is  not  uncommon  in  Handel ;  we 
iiixd  it  more  or  less  accentuated  in  his  earlier  works. 

The  refrain,  "  Kule,  rule,  Britannia,"  is  also  taken  from  Handel's  "  Ti 
rendo  questo  cor,"  in  Giustino. 


m 


>» |V 


^S 


SEtt 


i 


Ti    ren  -  do  ques-lo    cor 

h ^ 


che    ti     ser  -  bo  V  a  -  mor. 


^(¥=s-' 


^ 


Rule,   rule,   Bri-tan  -  nia  1 


Bri  -  tan  -  nia  rules   the  waves. 


Burney  had  already  pointed  out  (pp.  405  and  453)  that  the  cadence  of 
"  Eule  Britannia"  is  from  the  air  "  Un  vostro  sguardo,"  in  the  same 
opera,  at  the  words, 


m 


^^^g^^^g^^g^gEEEl 


Bri  -  tons     ne 


be  slav'( 


Thus,  the  celebrated  national  song,  ibr  which  Dr.  Ame  has  all  the  credit, 
is,  with  the  exception  of  two  bars,  composed  out  of  different  fragments 
by  Handel.  Arne,  who  was  nevertheless  a  very  distinguished  musician, 
has  no  other  merit,  and  it  is  certainly  a  merit  to  have  chosen  them  v/ell, 
and  to  have  employed  them  properly.  The  following  are  the  only  two 
bars  which  he  can  really  claim  as  his  own  : 


rose from  f)u1  ihe     a 


zure  ma  11. 


"god   save   the   king."  321 

King,"  is  sometimes  erroneously  attributed  to  Handel. 
Tiiere  is  a  little  French  tradition  which  even  asserts  that 
this  was  written  by  Lully,  for  the  occasion  of  Louis  the 
Fourteenth's  visit  to  St.  Cyr,  and  was  stolen  by  Handel 
during  a  visit  to  Paris.  But  Handel  never  set  foot  in 
France,  and  "  God  save  the  King"  was  sung  in  England 
more  than  thirty  years  before  Lully  came  into  the  world. 
This  magnilicent  hymn,  which  the  author  of  The  Messiah 
would  not  have  disowned,  belongs  to  Dr.  John  Bull,  the 
organist  to  James  the  First,  and  was  composed  in  1607, 
as  a  thanksgiving  to  God  for  having  saved  the  king  from 
the  Gunpowder  Plot.*  When  kings  escape  from  assas- 
sination, it  is  always  Providence  that  has  saved  them ; 
but  when  they  are  slain  it  is  never  Providence  that  has 
destroyed  them.  That  is  royal  logic  ;  false  as  the  logic 
of  the  assassin. 

For  the  French  to  pretend  that  "  God  save  the  King" 
was  by  Lully,  needs  all  the  blindness  of  national  preju- 
dice. It  is  as  if  we  were  to  attribute  a  page  of  Amyot 
to  Voltaire,  or  a  verse  of  Chaucer  to  Byron.  It  has  been 
rightly  said  that  composers  have  a  style,  as  painters  and 
writers  have,  and  that  Lully's  style  diflers  as  widely 
from  "  God  save  the  King"  as  a  picture  of  Reubens  from 
one  by  Raphael. 

It  is  asserted  that  the  Occasional  Oratorio  was  com- 
posed to  celebrate  the  "  northern  victories,"  that  is  to 
say,  the  first  advantages  gained  in  Scotland  by  the  troops 
of  George  the  Second  over  the  army  of  Charles  Stuart, 
the  eldest  son  of  the  Pretender.  I  do  not  know  upon 
what  this  assertion  is  founded,  but  it  does  not  seem  to 
be  justified.  The  somewhat  obscure  title  signifies  what 
we  Frenchmen  call  a  piece  de  circo7istance — a  piece  for 
the  occasion.  The  poem,  devoid  of  subject,  is  a  mixture 
of  invocations  to  God,  thanksgiving,  and  hymns  in  praise 
of  liberty,  which  are  certainly  not  without  connection 

*  This  seems  to  me  to  be  very  -well  established  by  Eichard  Clarke,  in 
his  Account  of  the  Natxoncil  Anthem^  &c. 

14^' 


322  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

with  sncli  an  occasion  ;  but  there  is  nothing  which  bears 
the  character  of  a  song  of  victory,  and  in  the  announce- 
ment of  the  work  no  kind  of  aUusion  is  made  to  the  po- 
litical circumstances  which  are  said  to  have  inspired  the 
composition.  Let  us  see  if  we  can  not  discover  some 
more  satisfactory  explanation. 

Handel,  during  his  disastrous  season  of  1746,  had 
agreed  with  the  subscribers  to  give  them  twenty-four 
performances.  Being  compelled  to  suspend  operations 
at  the  sixteenth,  he  still  owed  them  eight — a  debt  which 
he  could  not  overlook.  The  reader  may  recall  to  mind 
that,  in  1738,  he  had  given  a  concert  which  (rightly  or 
wrongly)  he  called  "  Oratorio."  He  set  to  music  the 
work  which  we  are  now  considering,  in  order  to  pay  his 
debt,  and  he  consecrated  it  exclusively  to  that  object; 
calHng  it  (as  it  seems  to  me)  A?i  Occasional  Oratorio, 
in  allusion  to  the  other  accidental  oratorio  of  1738.  It  is 
a  fact  to  be  remarked,  that  in  the  advertisements  this 
somew^hat  odd  title  is  always  accompanied  by  the  adjec- 
tive "new."  The  General  Advertiser  of  the  31st  of 
January,  1746,  announced  : — "  We  hear  that  Mr.  Handel 
promises  to  exhibit  some  musical  entertainments,  on 
Wednesdays  or  Fridays,  the  ensuing  Lent,  with  intent 
to  make  good  to  the  subscribers  that  favored  him  last 
season  the  number  of  performances  he  was  not  then  able 
to  complete.  In  order  thereto,  he  is  preparing  A  New 
Occasional  Oratorio,  which  is  designed  to  be  performed 
at  the  Theater  Royal,  in  Covent  Garden."  And  in  the 
same  pai)er,  of  Saturday  the  8th,  "  Covent  Garden — On 
Friday  next  (Feb.  14th)  will  be  performed  A  Ne^v  Oc- 
casional  Oratorio,  with  a  new  concerto  on  the  organ. 
The  subscribers  who  favored  Mr.  Handel  last  season 
with  their  subscription,  are  desired  to  send  to  the  office, 
at  Covent  Garden  Theater,  on  the  day  of  performance, 
where  two  tickets  shall  be  delivered  to  each,  gratis,  in 
order  to  make  good  the  number  of  performances  sub- 
scribed to  last  season," 


"JUDAS    MACCAli.i:US."  323 

To  what  could  the  word  "new,"  twice  repeated,  refer, 
if  not  to  the  collection  of  pieces  previously  offered  under 
the  name  of  Oratorio  f  I  admit  that  the  explanation  is 
so  far-fetched  that  many  persons  may  not  feel  satisfied 
witli  it ;  but,  however  that  may  be,  the  Neii^  Occasional 
Oratorio  was  three  times  performed,  as  advertised — on 
the  14th,  the  19th,  and  the  26th  of  February.  The  two 
tickets,  o-ratis,  which  were  added  to  the  subscribers'  sil- 
ver ticket,  were  in  reality  equivalent  to  nine  perform- 
ances, and  as  Handel  only  owed  them  eight,  he  was  quits 
with  them,  principal  and  interest. 

The  public  was  not  more  favorably  disposed  toward 
him  in  1746  than  in  1745,  for  he  did  not  exceed  the 
number  of  performances  necessary  to  the  payment  of  his 
debt.  On  the  26th  of  February,  the  advertisement 
stated  "that  this  performance  v.ill  be  the  last  of  the 
season."  It  is  true  that  it  was  only  a  duty  that  he 
fultilled  ;  but  we  like  to  see  a  man  acquitting  himself  of 
his  duty  so  gallantly. 

The  author  of  Esther^  AtJudiah^  Samson^  3Iessiah^ 
and  Saul^  had  thoroughly  learned  from  experience  that 
he  could  not  count  upon  a  regular  audience,  and  opened 
no  more  similar  subscriptions.  He  gave  his  oratorios 
every  year,  like  any  other  form  of  entertainment.  He 
addressed  himself  to  the  great  mass  of  the  public,  with- 
out any  previous  engagem(?nt ;  reserving  the  liberty  of 
limiting  to  his  taste  the  number  of  his  performances, 
which  varied  thenceforth  from  ten  to  thirteen. 

The  war  with  the  Pretender  incontestably  gave  occa- 
sion to  one  of  the  masterpieces  of  this  vir  iwohiis — Judas 
Maccahceus — which  was  written  in  thirty-two  days  (be- 
tween the  9th  of  July  and  the  11th  of  August,  1746), 
and  was  produced  at  Covent  Garden  on  the  1st  of  April, 
during  the  season  of  1747.*  This  oratorio  was  demanded 
from  the  composer  by  Frederic,  Prince  of  Wales,  to  cele- 

*  Perforniftnces  in  1747  : — Occasional  Oratorio^  three  times ;  Joseph., 
three  times ;  Judas  Maccahceus.^  six  times. 


324  LIFE     OF     II  AX  DEL. 

brate  the  return  of  his  not  very  much  beloved  brother, 
the  Duke  of  Cumberland,  who,  on  the  16th  of  April, 
1746,  had  won  the  decisive  battle  of  Culloden.* 

Handel  had  pointed  out  the  subject  to  Thomas  Moi-ell. 
A  passage  in  the  handbook  furnishes  a  new  proof  that 
he  used  his  poems  very  cavalierly.  At  the  entrance  of 
the  Messenger  in  the  third  act,  it  is  stated  : — "  Several 
incidents  were  introduced  here  by  way  of  messenger  and 
chorus,  in  order  to  make  the  story  more  complete  ;  but 
it  was  thought  they  would  make  the  performance  too 
long,  and  therefore  were  not  set,  and  therefore  not 
printed  ;  this  being  designed  not  as  a  finished  poem,  but 
merely  as  an  oratorio."  Morell  understood  what  was 
his  part.  He  knew  that  a  libretto  should  be  entirely 
made  for  the  music,  and  that  it  has  only  a  secondary 
place  in  the  collaboration  of  the  poet  and  the  composer. 
Handel,  for  his  part,  was  perfectly  convinced  of  this 
truth,  and  did  not  disquiet  himself  much  about  "  making 
the  story  more  complete,"  when,  by  doing  so,  the  music 
would  have  been  rendered  less  clear.  We  often  found 
in  his  manuscripts  words  of  recitatives  written  below  the 
staves  without  notes ;  and  we  may  infer  from  this  that 
he  wrote  in  advance,  more  or  less  of  the  recitatives 
which  he  was  composing,  and  that  in  this  last  opera- 
tion he  passed  over  whatever  he  judged  to  be  too 
lengthy. 

However  little  importance  Morell  attached  to  his  Ju- 
das Maccabwns^  he  dedicated  it  to  the  conqueror  in 
these  words  .• — "  To  His  Royal  Highness  Prince  William, 
Duke  of  Cumberland,  this  faint  portraiture  of  a  truly 
wise,  valiant,  and  virtuous  commander,  as  to  the  pos- 
sessor of  the  like  noble  qualities,  is,  with  the  most  pro- 
found respect  and  veneration,  inscribed  by  his  royal 
highness's  most  obedient  and  most  devoted  servant,  the 
author."  This  is  addressed  to  a  man  who  ])iti]essly  mur- 
dered as  many  prisoners  after  tlie  battle  as  liis  courage 

*  Biogriijihkt   Dvamittioa. 


"see  the   conqu eking   iieko."         325 

had  slain  enemies  during  the  combat.     Will  conquerors 
always  be  "  wise  and  virtuous"  in  the  eye  of  poets  ?* 

The  celebrated  chorus,  "  See  the  conquering  hero" 
(which  has  become  one  o^  the  pieces  de  resistance  for  the 
Societe  des  Concerts  at  Paris,  by  whom  it  is  given  every 
year),  did  not  originally  belong  to  Jiiclas^  but  to  Joshua. 
In  the  copy  of  Judas,  in  the  Smith  collection,  this 
chorus  is  added  ;  a  proof  that  it  did  not  form  part  of  the 
oratorio  at  the  beginning.  It  was  printed  for  the  first 
time  by  Walsh,  in  the  edition  of  Joshica,  which  appeared 
a  year  after  that  of  Judas.  Randall,  in  engraving  the 
two  works  at  a  later  period,  exclusively  attributed  it  to 
Joshua.  Arnold,  who  never  discussed,  extricated  him- 
self from  the  difficulty  by  putting  it  into  both.  Mr. 
Macfarren  makes  a  great  mistake  when  he  affirms  pos- 
itively, in  the  preface  to  his  edition  of  Judas  for  the 
Handel  Society,  that  there  is  no  original  MS.  of  this 
chorus  in  existence  ;  and  all  the  observations  which  he 
founds  upon  that  error  fall  of  their  own  accord.  There 
is  no  doubt  that  "  See  the  conquering  hero"  is  in  the 
MS.  of  Joshua.  It  is  not  even  a  subsequent  addition, 
but  is  in  its  proper  place,  after  the  recitative,  "  In  bloom 
of  youth."  It  is  addressed  to  the  youthful  Othniel, 
when  he  returns  from  the  conquest  of  the  city  of  Debir. 
Judas  JIaccabwus  was  revived  on  the  26th  of  February, 

*  The  political  circumstances,  as  miicli  as  the  sublimity  of  the  com- 
position, obtained  for  the  new  oratorio  a  success  which  has  never  deserted 
it.  Handel  himself  performed  it  thirty-eight  times,  and  on  the  thirtieth 
occasion  the  receipts  amounted  to  £400.  \^Biographia  BramcUica.]  The 
Jews  contributed  greatly  to  its  popularity.  Finding  in  it  one  of  the  finest 
episodes  in  their  national  history,  they  all  went  to  hear  it.  It  is  still 
ranked,  and  justly  so,  beside  the  greatest  works  of  the  composer — 
Israel,  Samson,  and  The  Messiali.  Yet  the  Morning  Herald  of  the  lOtli 
of  February,  1852,  says  that — "  The  airs  of  Judas  Maccabceus,  like  those 
in  MANY  other  works  of  Handel,  are  occasionally  feeble  and  insipid,  but 
two  or  th-ee  of  them  are  exactly  the  reverse,  and,  in  the  liands  of  singers 
of  ability,  bkcome  both  important  and  interesting.''''  If  Dante  had  been 
acquainted  with  the  author  of  tliut  article,  he  would  have  put  hiin  into 
the  hottest  pla<'o.  in  his  InfervA). 


326  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

1748,  and  on  the  1st  of  the  following  April  it  was  an- 
nounced "  witli  additions."  This  performance  of  the  1st 
of  April,  1748,  was  perhaps  the  anniversary  of  the  festi- 
val of  1747,  and  it  maybe  that  "See  the  conquering 
hero,"  which  had  excited  the  enthusiasm  of  the  audience 
in  Joshua  (which  had  been  performed  on  the  9th  of 
March,  1748),  was  one  of  the  "  additions."  It  was  ever 
afterward  left  in  Judas^  which  never  lost  its  attractions 
for  the  musical  public. 

"From  the  general  construction  of  the  chorus,"  says 
Crosse,  "  and  the  leading  accompaniments  being  given 
first  to  the  horns  and  afterward  to  the  flutes,  it  would 
appear  that  Handel  aimed  at  producing  something  to 
please  the  popular  ear.  It  is  related  of  him,  that  after 
playing  it  over  to  a  friend,  who  happened  to  call  upon 
him  just  as  it  was  finished,  he  asked,  '  How  do  you  like 
it  ?'  and  being  answered,  '  Not  so  well  as  some  things  I 
have  heard  of  yours,'  he  replied,  '  Nor  I  either ;  but  you 
will  live  to  see  it  a  greater  favorite  with  the  people  than 
my  other  fine  things' — a  prediction  which,  happily,  can 
scarcely  be  allowed  to  have  been  verified."  It  is  Miss 
Hawkins,  in  her  A?iecdotes  of  3Iusie^  who  reports  this 
conversation  as  having  taken  place  between  her  fother 
and  Handel.  It  is  impossible,  however,  but  that  she  has 
made  some  mistake.  Her  father  would  certainly  not 
have  failed  to  record  himself  awch  an  extraordinary  opin- 
ion ;  and  Handel  was  too  sensible  a  man  to  say  "  my 
other  fine  things."  Finally,  this  chorus  does  not  delight 
the  vulgar  only ;  it  has  been  for  more  than  a  century 
and  will  still  remain,  the  admiration  of  men  of  the  purest 
and  the  most  elevated  taste. 

It  is  not  performed  at  the  present  day  with  scrupulous 
exactness.  Handel  never  intended  that  the  three  strophes 
should  be  all  sung  in  chorus.  In  the  MS.,  the  second 
part  of  the  strophe  of  the  Virgins,  at  the  words  "Myr- 
tle Wreaths,"  is  inscribed :  "  Sig^.  Cassarini  and  Sig^. 
Galli."     They  therefi)re  sung  these  two  verses  alone,  and 


"LUCIUS     VERUS."  327 

the  suspension  must  have  certainly  given  greater  bril- 
liancy to  the  full  chorus  which  follows.  In  assigning  the 
piece  to  Sig^.  Galli,  there  was  certainly  an  anomaly  w^hich 
the  colorless  style  of  performing  oratorios  could  alone 
prevent  from  being  shocking.  She  was  charged  with 
the  part  of  Othniel,  w^hose  glory  is  being  celebrated  by 
the  chorus,  and  it  follows  that  when  she  sang  "  Myrtle 
wreaths,"  she  was  singing  her  own  triumph. 

In  the  same  year  that  Judas  Maecahmus  was  produced, 
Gluck,  then  thirty  years  old,  produced  La  Cadiita  de* 
Giganti  at  the  King's  Theater,  which  had  been  reopened 
in  1746  by  Lord  Middlesex.  This  was  intended  as  an- 
other compliment  to  the  Duke  of  Cumberland.  It  was 
only  performed  five  times  ;*  but  it  should  not  be  forgot- 
ten that  it  was  only  a  piece  for  the  occasion.  Walsh  has 
included  five  morceaux  from  it  in  the  ninth  volume  of 
his  Delizie  delP  Opera — a  collection  in  eleven  volumes, 
of  the  principal  airs  in  all  the  operas  of  that  period. 

The  name  of  Handel  reappeared  also  at  the  Italian  The- 
ater in  1747,  attached  to  a  certain  Lucius  Verus — a  com- 
pilation made  up  of  airs  taken  from  his  operas.  Walsh 
published  ''''Favorite  Songs  in  Lucius  Verus^  by  Mr. 
Handel ;"  but  this  is  a  piece  of  Jesuitism.  The  book  is 
"  by  Mr.  Handel"  only,  inasmuch  as  it  comprises  the  re- 
impression  of  plates  containing  ten  pieces,  borrowed  from 
Hicardo^  Madamisto^  Admetus^  Siroe^  and  Tamerlane. 
The  editor  has  done  nothing  but  engrave  '•''Lucius  Verus'''* 
beneath  each  piece,  with  the  name  of  anew  singer.  For 
example,  at  the  head  of  "  Cara  sposa,"  of  Radamisto^ 
may  still  be  found  "  sung  by  Signor  Senesino,"  and  at 
the  foot,  ''''Lucius  Yerus?"*  In  this  manner  we  learn  that 
there  were  not  less  than  five  ladies  singing  in  Laicius 
Verus,  Signore  Galli,  Frasi,  Casarini,  Sibilla,  and  Miss 
Pirker.  The  last  three,  although  little  known,  must 
have  had  a  certain  amount  of  talent,  for  they  sang  the 
pieces  which  were  written  for  Senesino.  The  four  Ital- 
*  Dictionary  of  Musicians. 


328  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

ian  ladies  figure  in  the  oratorios  of  the  same  period,  and 
tliey  were  not,  therefore,  exclusively  attached  to  the  the- 
ater of  the  manager-lord. 

Lucius  Verus  is  classed  among  the  works  of  Handel, 
in  my  opinion  unreasonably  so,  for  it  does  not  contain  a 
single  original  note.  From  no  portion  of  it  does  it  ap- 
pear that  tlie  author  of  Ricardo^  /Sh'oe,  and  Tamerlane 
had  any  thing  to  do  with  that  confection  of  old  goods,  or 
that  he  ever  sanctioned  it  by  his  consent.  Artistic  pro- 
ductions were  not  then  protected  against  any  species  of 
piracy.  When  they  had  once  appeared,  they  became 
every  body's  prey,  and  were  made  use  of  in  a  manner 
which  is  equally  oliensive  to  reason  and  to  equity. 
There  is  only  one  excuse  for  the  rivals  who  thus  adorned 
themselves  with  borrowed  plumes,  that  they  have  set  a 
high  value  upon  him  whom  they  despoiled.  In  the  Gen- 
eral Advertiser  of  the  13th  jSTovember,  1747,  an  adver- 
tisement appeared,  which  was  conceived  in  the  following 
terms  :  "  Yesterday  was  rehearsed,  at  the  King's  Thea- 
ter in  the  Haymarket,  the  opera  of  Lucius  Verus.  This 
drama  consists  of  airs  borrowed  entirely  from  Mr.  Han- 
del's favorite  operas,  and  so  may  (probably)  be  justly 
styled  the  most  exquisite  comi^osition  of  hai-mony  ever 
offered  to  the  publick.  Those  lovers  of  musick  among 
us  whose  ears  have  been  charmed  with  Faustina,  Faran- 
ello,  Senesini  {sic)^  Cuzzoni,  and  other  great  performers, 
will  now  have  an  opportunity  of  reviving  their  former 
delight ;  which,  if  not  so  transporting  as  then,  may  yet 
prove  a  very  high  entertainment.  Mr.  Handel  is  ac- 
knowledged (universally)  so  great  a  master  of  the  lyre, 
that  nothing  urged  in  fivor  of  his  capital  performances 
can  reasonably  be  considered  as  a  puff." 

But  worse  things  than  Liccius  Verus  had  been  com- 
mitted in  this  manner.  The  Weekly  Chronicle  of  Satur- 
day, the  Tth  of  December,  1734,  contains  this  paragraph  : 
"  Last  Saturday,  there  was  a  rehearsal  of  the  opera  of 
Otho  in  the  Haymarket,  before  a  numerous  audience  of 


MUSICAL    riRACY.  329 

the  first  quality."  Burney  has  given  an  account  of  all 
the  representations  of  Otho  during  that  same  month  of 
December,  at  the  theater  in  the  Haymarket,  then  in  the 
occupation  of  the  company  patronized  by  the  nobility. 
An  Ottone  in  Villa  had  been  given  at  Venice,  in  1729, 
by  Vivaldi ;  but  as  only  Otho  is  mentioned  without  the 
author's  name,  one  is  led  to  believe  (with  Burney)  that 
it  was  Handel's  own  opera  that  was  sung  at  the  theater, 
which  had  been  opened  for  the  express  purpose  of  ruin- 
ing him.  Moreover,  what  other  body  of  the  community, 
except  the  nobility,  could  bring  together  an  audience 
"  of  the  first  quality  ?"  But  we  must  be  permitted  to 
doubt  the  excellence  of  "  the  quality"  of  such  an  iniq- 
uity. In  1743,  when  Handel  had  nothhig  to  do  with  the 
Italian  theater.  Lord  Middlesex,  who  was  then  the  man- 
ager, gave  '•'•RoxaiLCi^  or  Alexander  in  India.,  composed 
by  Mr.  Handel,  with  dances  and  other  decorations,  en- 
tirely new."*  This  was  the  Alessandro  of  1728,  under 
a  new  name ;  but  the  handbook  of  this  Hoxana  of  1743, 
"  composed  by  Mr.  Handel,^''  contains  no  fewer  than  nine 
airs  which  belong  neither  to  Alessandro  nor  to  any  other 
of  his  operas,  and,  nevertheless  no  intimation  is  given  of 
their  introduction.  While  he  was  alive,  therefore,  they 
sung  under  his  name  nine  airs  which  did  not  belong  to 
him  !  It  is  true  that  they  suppressed  twelve  belonging 
to  the  original  work;  but  not  even  M.  Azais  himself 
could  regard  that  as  a  sufficient  compensation.! 

It  is  certain  that,  in  1747,  Handel  was  an  utter  stranger 
to  the  theater.  His  life  had  taken  a  regular  and  uniform 
course.  He  composed  one  and  sometimes  two  oratorios 
during  the  dull  season;  and,  when  Lent  arrived,  he  pro- 
duced them  in  a  series  of  twelve  performances,  accom- 
panied by  some  of  his  former  works.  Thus  it  was  that 
at  Covent  Garden,  in  1748,  Alexander  JBcdus.,  which  ho 

*  London  Bally  Post,  8tii  Novem'ber,  1743. 

+  M.  Azais  is  a  French  philosopher,  whose  doctrine  is  that  good  and 
evil  compensate  each  other  in  the  creation. 


330  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

had  completed  on  the  4th  of  July,  1747,  appeared  on  the 
9tli  and  23d  of  March,  and  Joshua^  which  was  written  in 
a  month,  from  the  19th  of  July  to  the  19th  of  the  follow- 
ing August.* 

Joshua.,  which  may  be  reproached  with  having  too 
many  recitatives,  contains  some  supreme  beauties.  Ach- 
sah's  air,  ^'  Hark,  'tis  the  linnet,"  with  a  simple  accompa- 
niment of  the  violin  and  flute,  is  charmingly  graceful,  and 
will  always  be  certain  of  its  eifect.  I  am  surprised  that 
concert  singers  do  not  avail  themselves  of  it.  "  Heroes, 
when  with  glory  burning,"  is  one  of  those  valiant  and 
heroic  inspirations  in  which  Handel  excelled.  In  the 
march,  there  is  an  admirable  mingling  of  religious  feel- 
ing with  martial  audacity.  Shield,  one  of  the  veterans 
of  English  music,  says,  in  his  appendix  to  his  theoret- 
ical hook.,  I)itrodnction  to  Harmony :  "Traveling  from 
London  to  Taplow  with  the  father  of  modern  harmony 
[Haydn],  and  having,  during  the  preceding  evening,  ob- 
served his  countenance  expressing  rapturous  astonish- 
ment during  the  concert  of  ancient  music,  I  embraced 
the  favorable  opportunity  of  inquiring  how  he  estimated 
the  chorus  in  Joshua.,  '  The  nations  tremble.'  The  reply 
was, '  He  had  long  been  acquainted  with  music,  but  never 
knew^  half  its  powers  before  he  heard  it,  and  he  was  per- 
fectly certain  that  only  one  inspired  author  ever  did,  or 
ever  would,  pen  so  sublime  a  composition.' "  To  make 
this  "  wonderful  chorus"  known  in  foreign  cities,  where 
English  oratorios  are  not  collected,  Mr.  Shield  has  given 
the  score  of  it  in  his  work,  but  regrets  that  his  limits 
would  not  allow  the  insertion  of  its  impressive  introduc- 
tory air,  "  Glory  to  God."  "  Powerful  guardians,"  an- 
other air  in  Joshua.,  had  an  immense  and  deserved  suc- 
cess. It  was  afterward  added,  in  a  detached  leaf,  to  the 
h?iwd\)o6k^  o^  Judas  3Iaecahceus  and  of  Jo.?^^?^.  It  can 
not  be  doubted  that  Handel  himself  frequently  intro- 

*  Performances  of  1748  : — Joshua,  four  times  ;  Alexander  Bcelus,  three 
times;  Judas,  six  times. 


"JOSHUA."  331 

duced  into  the  performances  of  his  successful  oratorios 
some  of  the  airs  whicli  had  been  applauded  in  such  of 
the  others  as  had  been  less  favorably  received. 

The  copy  oi  Joshua  in  the  Smith  collection  perfectly 
clears  up  a  difficulty  in  a  matter  of  detail  which  has  hith- 
erto remained  unexplained,  and  thus  gives  an  additional 
value  to  that  precious  collection.  After  the  recitative, 
"  Brethren  and  friends,"  at  the  moment  when  the  He- 
brews are  about  to  attack  Jericho,  the  original  MS.  has 
a  bar  of  music  for  the  kettle-drum,  followed  by  an  etc., 
over  which  is  written  "  Flourish  of  warlike  instruments." 
Handel  usually  composed  separately  all  the  instrumental 
music,  and  here  he  jotted  down  a  bar  of  the  "flourish" 
as  it  came  into  his  mind,  and  added  "  etc.,"  reserving  the 
development  for  some  future  period.  The  question  was, 
where  was  the  piece  of  martial  music  to  be  found  ?  It 
could  not  be  discovered  anywhere.  Walsh's  edition  does 
not  even  mention  it.  The  editions  of  Randall  and  Ar- 
nold, and  the  copy  in  Mr.  Lennard's  collection,  have  only 
the  bar  of  the  original  MS.,  with  the  indication,  "  Flour- 
ish of  warlike  instruments."  Nevertheless,  the  hand- 
book of  the  first  performance,  and  another  handbook 
dated  Oxford,  1756,  have  at  this  place  "Warlike  sym- 
phony." The  Hebrews  had  certainly  marched  into  Jeri- 
cho to  music  ;  but  what  music  ?  The  question  was  asked 
in  vain ;  when  the  copy  in  Smith's  collection,  being  the 
very  one  which  Handel  himself  used  in  conducting  the 
oratorio,  comes  to  reveal  the  secret.  The  solitary  bar  for 
the  kettle-drum  in  the  original  MS.,  whicli  had  been  also 
copied  there,  is  effaced,  and  on  the  following  page  is 
written  the  bass  part  of  a  little  symphony,  in  which  Mr. 
Lacy  recognizes  a  warlike  symphony  from  the  opera  of 
Ricardo  Primo.  Therefore,  Handel  gave  up  his  first 
idea,  either  because  it  inspired  him  no  further,  or  because 
he  had  no  time  to  develop  it,  and  we  know  now  that  he 
introduced  into  Joshua^  in  1748,  a  flourisk  from  an  opera 
which  he  had  produced  twenty-one  years  before.    It  will 


332  LIFE    OF     UANDEL. 

be  seen  by  the  "  Catalogue,"  where  these  questions  are 
more  naturally  in  their  place,thatvery  few  similar  questions 
remain  w^hich  are  not  now  to  be  thoroughly  cleared  up. 

Since  it  is  said  that  the  public  will  not  come  to  hear 
such  works  as  Joshua^  one  ought  to  be  very  much  obliged 
to  Mr.  Surman  and  the  London  Sacred  Harmonic  Society 
for  giving  them  at  the  minor  performances,  in  the  smaller 
concert-room,  at  Exeter  Hall,  which  are  in  addition  to 
their  regular  winter  entertainments. 

Handel,  proceeding  in  the  manner  which  has  been  de- 
scribed, wrote  Solo7no7i  between  the  5th  of  May  and  the 
19th  of  June,  and  Susannah  from  the  11th  of  July  to 
the  24th  of  August,  1748.  He  was  then  sixty-three  years 
old !  They  were  performed  at  Covent  Garden  during 
the  season  of  1749.*  The  couplets  in  jSusannah^  "Ask 
if  yon  damask  rose,"  were  worth  a  fortune.  They  were 
engraved  in  every  form.  The  JLadi/''s  Magazine  gave 
them  to  its  subscribers  even  as  late  as  1793.  They  were 
sung  with  other  words,  "Let  rakes  and  libertines,"  in 
Love  in  a  Village^  a  comic  opera,  produced  in  1762. 

The  three  double  choruses  which  succeed  each  other  at 
the  beginning  of  Solo7no7i  are  all  composed  in  the  grand- 
est style,  forming  an  harmonic  effect  which  is  at  the  same 
time  very  complicated  and  very  powerful.  The  chorus, 
"  May  no  rash  intruder,"  is  a  melodious  inspiration  of 
charming  originality,  and  which  nothing,  even  in  the 
works  of  the  Italian  masters,  can  surpass.  The  double 
choruses  in  the  second  act,  "  From  the  censer  curling 
rise,"  and  the  magnificent  air,  "  Sacred  raptures,"  which 
used  to  be  frequently  sung  at  the  festivals,  deserve  all 
their  celebrity.  The  air  belonging  to  the  true  mother, 
"  Can  I  see  my  infant  gored,"  is  touching  and  expressive 
to  the  last  degree.  In  this  work  we  constantly  perceive 
that  Handel  had  preserved  an  extraordinary  freshness  of 
ideas.     The  parts  of  the  two  women,  which  are  admira- 

*  Performances  of  1749  : — Susannah,  four  times  ;  Hercules,  twice  ; 
iSamson,  four  times ;  Solomon,  twice ;  Messiah,  four  times. 


"SOLOMON."  333 

bly  distinct,  prove  also  that  he  had  lost  nothing  of  the 
vigor  of  his  dramatic  conception.  IsTevertlieless,  Solo- 
mon was  only  given  twice  in  1749,  and  twice  again  ten 
years  afterward,  when  Handel  revived  it  in  the  very  year 
of  his  death. 

In  going  to  the  root  of  the  matter,  one  feels  surprised 
at  the  small  number  of  times  on  which  the  oratorios  of 
Handel  were  performed  during  his  life.  Altogether, 
from  1743  down  to  his  death  in  1759,  he  only  gave  one 
hundred  and  ninety-two  performances  (not  including  the 
eleven  for  the  Foundling  Hospital),  an  average  of  twelve 
every  year ;  among  which  llie  Messiah^  Judas^  and  Sam- 
son count  for  eighty-seven.  After  those  three  oratorios, 
the  compositions  which  were  most  frequently  performed 
were,  Joseph^  eleven  times ;  Joshua^  Jephtha^  and  Bel- 
shazzar^  each  seven ;  Alexander'^ s  Feast  reappeared  eight 
times  during  that  period  ;  The  Choice  of  Hercules  and 
Saul^  seven  ;  Athalia^  four  ;  Deborah  and  Esther^  three, 
etc.  It  may  be  relied  upon  that  these  details  are  per- 
fectly correct.  They  have  been  collected  out  of  the 
journals  of  the  period,  as  they  are  to  be  found  in  the 
British  Museum.  The  imperfect  state  of  the  collections 
anterior  to  that  epoch  does  not  allow  of  the  same  exam- 
ination, with  any  degree  of  certainty,  as  to  the  period 
between  1732  (when  Esther  made  its  first  appearance  be- 
fore the  public)  and  1742.  In  the  appendices  to  the 
"  Catalogue"  will  be  found  all  the  performances  noted, 
which  will  be  always  serviceable  for  references. 

The  MS.  of  Solo7no7i  is  written  upon  all  kinds  of  paper, 
and  of  all  dimensions,  from  the  smallest  oblong  to  the 
largest  folio.  It  may  be  supposed  that  the  composer's 
affairs  were  still  in  a  very  bad  state,  and  that  he  found  it 
necessary  to  be  saving,  by  using  up  all  the  remnants  of 
paper  which  he  happened  to  have  about  him.  Never- 
theless, he  offered  the  tickets  for  the  first  representation 
— "Pit  and  boxes  to  be  put  together,  at  lialf  a  guinea 
each ;  first  gallery,  five  shillings ;  second  gallery,  three 


334  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

shillings  and  sixpence."*  When  we  see  him  raising  the 
pi-ice  of  his  places  beyond  eight  shillings  (which  was  the 
legular  price),  we  may  judge  that  he  counted  on  the 
general  interest  excited  when  a  new  work  by  him  was 
expected.f  It  must  have  been  indeed  a  wonderful  sight 
for  his  cotemporaries  to  see  these  great  works  following 
each  other  with  such  rapidity.  However  perfect  may 
have  been  the  confidence  in  the  strength  of  the  old  man, 
the  ilite  of  Milo  of  Crotona  was  always  to  be  dreaded. 

But  it  seems  as  if  the  fatigues  of  old  age  were  un- 
known to  him.  While  he  directed  his  performances  dur- 
ing the  Lent  of  1748,  during  which  he  played  every 
evening  (as  his  custom  was)  one  or  two  concertos  upon 
the  organ,  he  wrote  the  music  for  the  royal  fireworks, 
which  were  exhibited  on  Thursday,  the  27th  of  April, 
1749.  "The  machine,"  says  the  Gentleman'' s  Magazine 
for  this  month,  "  was  situated  in  the  Green  Park,  500 
feet  from  his  majesty's  library,  and  represented  a  mag- 
nificent Doric  temple,  from  which  extended  two  wings, 
terminated  by  pavilions,  114  feet  in  height  to  the  top  of 
his  majesty's  arms;  410  feet  long.  Invented  and  designed 
by  the  Chevalier  Servandoni.  Disposition  of  the  fire- 
work :  after  a  grand  overture  of  warlike  instruments, 
composed  by  Mr.  Handel,  a  signal  was  given  for  the  com- 
mencement of  the  firework,  which  opened  by  a  royal 
salute  of  101  brass  ordnance,  viz.,  71  six-pounders,  20 
twelve-pounders,  and  10  twenty-four  pounders." 

The  construction  caught  fire,  and  his  majesty's  library 
narrowly  escaped  being  burned.  This  display  of  fire- 
works was  to  celebrate  the  peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle, 
which  was  concluded  on  the  7th  of  October,  1748,  and 
which  put  an  end  to  a  long  war,  by  insuring  to  the 
throne  of  England  the  inheritance  of  the  Hanoverian 
crowm. 

In  addition  to  the  overture,  which  was  played  by  fifty- 
six  instruments,!  this  music  is  divided  into  five  move- 

*  General  Advertiser  for  17th  of  March,  1749.      \  See  Appendix  S. 

X  See  page  157. 


FIREWOKKS     MUSIC.  335 

inents — two  Allegro,  one  Bouree,  one  Siciliana,  and  two 
minuets,  in  which  are  viohns,  violas,  violoncellos,  and 
double-basses.  Below  the  Siciliana,  the  MS.  bears  the 
words  "  La  paix,"  and  below  the  second  Allegro,  "  La 
rejouissance."  Doubtless  this  accompanied  a  transpar- 
ency symbolical  of  Pleasures,  and  the  Siciliana  one  bear- 
ing an  allegorical  representation  of  Peace.  Handel 
always  varied  the  eflects  of  sonority  with  extreme  care. 
The  Allegro  of  "  La  rejouissance"  has  this  direction : — 
"  The  first  time  with  trumpets,  2d  time  with  French 
horns,  the  3d  time  all  together."  At  the  first  minuet, 
originally  set  for  "  trombe,  tympnni,  hautbois,  viole,  bas- 
sons"  (trumj^ets,  kettle-drums,  hautboys,  viols,  and  bas- 
soons), it  is  written — "la  seconda  volta  colli  corni  di 
caccia,  hautbois,  bassons  e  tympani ;  la  terza  volta  tutti 
insieme  and  the  side  drums"  (the  second  time  with  hunt- 
ing horns,  hautboys,  bassoons,  and  kettle-drums;  the 
third  time  all  together,  and  the  side  drums). 

People  had  doubtless  been  talking  about  the  fifty-six 
wind-instruments  which  were  to  lead  this  musical  bi'oad- 
side.  Curiosity  was  excited  to  the  highest  point.  The 
General  Advertiser  of  the  22d  of  April,  1749,  says: — 
*'  Yesterday  there  was  the  brightest  and  most  numerous 
assembly  ever  known  at  the  Spring  Gardens,  Yauxhall, 
on  occasion  of  the  rehearsal  of  Mr.  Handel's  music  for 
the  royal  fireworks."  The  Gentleman'' s  Magazine  for 
April,  1'749,  says  :  "  Friday  21,  was  performed,  at  Vaux- 
hall  Gardens,  the  rehearsal  of  the  music  for  the  fire- 
works, by  a  band  of  100  musicians,  to  an  audience  of 
above  12,000  pei'sons  (tickets  9s,  Gd.)  So  great  a  resort 
occasioned  such  a  stoppage  on  London  Bridge,  that  no 
carriage  could  pass  for  three  hours.  The  footmen  were 
so  numerous  as  to  obstruct  the  passage,  so  that  a  scuffle  en- 
sued, in  which  some  gentlemen  were  wounded."  Twelve 
thousand  persons  at  9s.  6d.  per  ticket  would  give  £5700. 
Such  a  receipt  appears  incredible.  Surely  there  is  a 
printer's  error  here.     The  General  Advertiser  puts  the 


336  LIFE     OF     II  A.  N  DEL. 

tickets  at  2s.  6d.,  which  is  far  more  reconcilable  with  an 
audience  of  12,000  persons.  Even  that  would  bring 
£1500;  which  is,  after  all,  a  good  round  sum. 

Fireworks  Music  figured  for  a  long  time  afterward  in 
the  programme  of  almost  every  concert ;  but  it  is  not  to 
be  supposed  that  it  was  performed  with  all  the  horns  and 
trumpets  of  the  Green  Park. 

Musicians  have  not  so  high  an  opinion  of  Fireworks 
3Iusic  as  of  Water  Music.  Walsh  published  the  two 
works  for  eight  instruments,  and  for  the  harpsichord. 
Messrs.  Lonsdale  and  Co.  have  lately  put  forward  an 
edition  of  the  first  one  for  the  piano,  upon  the  occasion 
of  the  peace  with  Russia.  Very  often,  on  both  sides  of 
the  quarrel,  wars  are  finished  with  a  display  of  fireworks. 
Sad  mockery ! 

Handel  himself  caused  Fireworks  Music  to  be  per- 
formed at  the  Foundling  Hospital,  a  few  days  after  the 
public  rejoicings  of  the  27th  of  April.  "  On  the  4th  of 
May,  1749,"  says  Mr.  Brownlow,*  "he  attended  the 
committee  at  the  hospital,  and  offered  a  performance  of 
vocal  and  instrumental  music ;  the  money  arising  there- 
from to  be  applied  toward  the  finishing  of  the  chapel." 
This  performance  is  thus  alluded  to  in  the  Gentlemaii's 
Magazine  of  that  month  :  "  Saturday,  27th. — The  Prince 
and  Princess  of  Wales,  with  a  great  number  of  persons 
of  quality  and  distinction,  were  at  the  chapel  of  the 
Foundling  Hospital  to  hear  several  pieces  of  vocal  and 
instrumental  music,  composed  by  George  Frederic  Han- 
del, Esq.,  for  the  benefit  of  the  foundation.  1°.  The 
music  for  the  late  fireworks,  and  the  anthem  on  the 
peace ;  2^.  select  pieces  from  the  oratorio  of  Solomon 
relating  to  the  dedication  of  the  Temple  ;  and,  3°,  several 
pieces  composed  for  the  occasion,  the  words  taken  from 
Scripture,  and  applicable  to  the  charity  and  its  bene- 
factors. There  was  no  collection,  but  the  tickets  were 
at  half  a  guinea,  and  the  audience  above  a  thousand,  be- 
*  Memoranda  of  tlie  Foundling  Hospital,  8vo,  1847. 


"tueodora."  337 

sides  a  gift  of  £2000  from  his  in<ajesty,  and  £50  from  an 
unknown." 

"  For  this  act  of  benevolence,"  adds  Mr.  Brownlow, 
"  on  the  part  of  Handel,  he  was  immediately  enrolled  as 
one  of  the  governors  and  guardians  of  the  hospital." 
The  General  Advertiser  of  the  27th  of  May  says  that  at 
this  performance  there  were  "above  100  voices  and  per- 
formers." The  "  pieces  composed  for  the  occasion" 
form  an  anthem,  and  are  to  be  found  in  a  volume  copied 
by  Smith,  with  seventeen  pages  in  the  handwriting  of 
the  master,  at  the  office  of  the  secretary  for  the  hos- 
pital.* They  are  still  entirely  unpublished  ;  and  it  is  to 
be  hoped  that  the  committee  of  the  hospital  will  give 
them  to  the  public.  Such  an  act  of  gratitude  toward 
the  author  would  not  be  unprofitable ;  for,  like  the  Cid, 
whose  name  won  victories  after  his  death,  Handel's  un- 
known anthem  would  be  the  occasion  of  fresh  profit  to 
the  establishment  to  w^hose  service  his  charity  conse- 
crated it  a  century  ago. 

Theodora  was  produced  during  the  following  year,  on 
the  16th  of  March,  "  with  a  new  concerto  on  the  organ."f 
One  might  suppose  that  this  time  the  athlete  was  ex- 
hausted. The  newly  discovered  saint  was  very  badly 
received ;  but  nevertheless  we  read  in  the  Biographla 
Dramtica  : — "  We  are  informed  that  Mr.  Handel  valued 
the  oratorio  of  Theodora  more  than  any  other  perform- 
ance of  the  same  kind.  Being  once  asked  whether  he 
did  not  consider  the  grand  chorus  in  The  Messiah  as  his 
masterpiece,  '  No,'  said  he,  '  I  think  the  chorus,  "  He 
saw  the  lovely  youth,"  at  the  end  of  the  second  part  in 
Theodora^  far  beyond  it.'  " 

There  are  several  amusing  anecdotes  about  this  Theo- 
dora^ which  Handel  seems  to   have  loved  as  a  mother 

*  See  "Catalogue,"  Foundling  Ilosintal  Anthem^  1749. 

t  Perfonnauces  during  1750 : — Saul^  twice ;  Judas  Maccahcuus,  three 
times ;  Th&}d(yra^  four  times  ;  Samson^  twice ;  The  Messiah,  once  (11th  of 
April). 

15 


338  LIFE     OF     HxVNDEL. 

does  her  weakly  son.  Burney  says: — "In  1749,  his 
Theodora  was  so  unfortunately  neglected,  that  he  was 
glad  to  give  orders  for  admission  to  any  professors  who 
did  not  perform.  Twd  of  these  gentlemen  having  after- 
terward  applied  to  Handel  for  an  order  to  hear  Th& 
3Iessiah^  he  cried  out,  '  Oh,  your  sarvant,  mein  herren, 
you  are  tamnaple  tainty,  you  could  not  co  to  Teodora  ^ 
der  was  room  enough  to  tance  dere  when  dat  was  per- 
formed !'  "  At  the  second  performance  he  treated  the 
matter  with  witty  pleasantry: — "A  gentleman,  who  was 
on  intimate  terms  of  friendship  with  Mr.  Handel,  imagin- 
ing it  to  be  a  losing  night,  was  willing  to  avoid  speaking 
to  him  that  evening  ;  but  he,  observing  him  at  some  dis- 
tance, went  up  to  him  and  said,  '  Will  you  be  here  next 
Friday  night  ?  I  will  play  it  to  you.''  "*  But  on  another 
occasion  he  was  not  so  tractable ;  for,  upon  hearing 
"  that  a  person  of  note  from  the  city  had  undertaken  to 
engage  for  all  the  boxes,  if  it  was  represented  again,  'He 
is  a  fool,'  replied  Handel ;  '  the  Jews  will  not  come  to  it 
as  to  Judas  Ilaccahmus^  because  it  is  a  Christian  story ; 
and  the  ladies  will  not  come  because  it  is  a  virtuous 
one.'  "t  When  he  said  that,  he  must  h^ve  been  thinking 
of  the  soirees  and  balls  wliich  the  great  ladies  gave  in 
order  to  deprive  him  of  his  audiences. 

This  dear  Theodora  remained  mistress  of  his  heart  to 
the  end,  although  she  never  brought  him  any  thing  but 
an  empty  house.  He  gave  it  again  a  short  time  before 
his  death.  In  the  British  Museum  there  is  a  handbook 
of  it,  dated  1759.  It  contained,  however,  at  least  four 
fine  things;  for  in  the  programmes  of  the  Concerts  of 
Ancient  Music  we  often  meet  with  the  two  choruses, 
"  He  saw  the  lovely  youth,"  and  "  Venus  laughing,"  and 
with  the  two  airs,  "  Lord  to  thee,"  and  "  Angels  ever 
b]-ight  and  fair." 

Handel  brought  the  performances  of  1750  to  a  close 
on  the  11th  of  April.  On  the  15th  of  May  he  conducted 
*  Biographia  Dramatica.  i  Ibid. 


"choice     of     HERCULES."  339 

The  Messiah  at  the  Foundling  Hospital.  From  the  MS. 
of  the  Choice  of  Hercules^  it  is  known  that  he  composed 
that  work  from  the  28th  of  June  to  the  5th  of  July  ;  and, 
nevertheless,  the  General  Advertiser  of  Tuesday,  the 
21st  of  August,  1750,  suddenly  announced  this  piece  of 
news : — "  Mr.  Handel,  who  went  to  Germany  to  visit  his 
friends  some  time  since,  and,  between  the  Hague  and 
Harlaem,  had  the  misfortune  to  be  overturned,  by  which 
he  was  terribly  hurt,  is  now  out  of  danger." 

It  is  difficult  to  refuse  credence  to  a  paragraph  in  a 
newspaper  relating  to  such  facts ;  but  however  extraor- 
dinary may  have  been  the  activity  of  the  great  musician, 
then  sixty-five  years  of  age,  it  is  not  less  difficult  to  make 
this  journey  agree  with  the  precise  dates  above  related. 
On  the  5th  of  July  he  signed  the  Choice  of  Hercules  (as 
I  suppose)  at  London,  and  on  the  21st  of  August  he  is 
represented  as  having  recovered  from  a  dangerous  fall, 
which  had  happened  to  him  at  the  Hague,  during  a  re- 
cent visit  to  Germany !  He  is  very  capable  of  having 
written  the  Choice  of  Hercules^  not  in  London,  but  on 
the  journey.  In  Germany,  they  still  preserve  the  tradi- 
tion of  this  visit.  Forkel,  in  his  Life  of  Bach,  relates 
that  the  latter  had  always  the  greatest  desire  to  make 
the  acquaintance  of  his  great  compatriot,  without  being 
able  to  satisfy  it.  "Handel,"  says  he,  "came  three  times 
from  London  to  Halle,  his  native  town.  On  his  first 
visit,  about  the  year  1719,  Bach  was  still  at  Coethen, 
only  four  German  miles  from  Halle.  He  w^as  immediately 
informed  of  Handel's  arrival,  and  lost  not  a  moment  in 
paying  him  a  visit ;  but  Handel  left  Halle  the  very  day 
of  his  arrival.  At  the  time  of  Handel's  second  visit  (be- 
tween 1730  and  1740)  Bach  was  at  Leipzig,  but  ill.*  As 
soon,  however,  as  he  was  informed  of  Handel's  arrival  at 
Halle,  he  immediately  sent  his  eldest  son,  William  Friede- 

*  After  he  had  settled  in  England,  Handel  visited  Germanj^  in  1716 
(see  page  65),  in  1720  (see  page  74),  and  in  1737  (see  page  213) ;  perhaps, 
albo,  he  was  there  in  1733  (see  page  183). 


340  LIFE     OF     UANDEL. 

mann,  thither,  with  a  very  j^olite  invitation  to  visit  him 
at  Leipzig ;  but  Handel  regretted  that  he  could  not 
come.  On  Handel's  third  visit,  in  1752  or  1753,  Bach 
was  dead."* 

The  third  journey  of  which  Forkel  makes  mention, 
must  have  been  that  which  he  made  in  August,  1750. 
From  1752  to  1753  Handel  lost  his  sight. 

The  oratorio  season  of  1751  comprised  the  Choice  of 
Hercules^  an  "  interlude"  of  four  personages,  with  three 
choruses^  taken  by  an  unknown  compiler,  almost  word 
for  word,  from  Spenser's  Polymetis^  and  produced  on  the 
1st  of  March.f  Hawkins  declares  that  when  Handel 
quitted  Covent  Garden,  he  was  indebted  to  Rich,  the 
proprietor  of  the  theater,  and  that  to  acquit  himself  of 
the  debt,  he  wrote  an  English  opera,  Alcestes^  to  words 
by  Smollett :  he  adds,  that  the  opera,  although  prepared 
at  great  expense,  not  having  been  performed,  the  com- 
poser applied  the  music  to  Dry  den's  Ode  for  St.  Cecilia's 
Day.X  Here  Hawkins  confuses  the  facts.  The  Alcestes, 
by  Smollett  (who  was  born  in  1721),  belongs  at  the  soon- 
est to  1746  ;§  while  the  music  which  Handel  set  to  it 
certainly  belongs  to  1749,||  and  was  employed,  not  for 
Dryden's  Ode,  which  was  composed  in  1739,  but  for 
Choice  of  Hercules.  Hawkins,  although  very  studious, 
has  permitted  several  similar  mistakes  to  slip  into  his 
immense  work,  and,  thanks  to  the  credit  which  he  most 

*  Zi/e  of  Bacli^  by  Forkel,  German  edition,  p.  47  ;  English  translation, 
p,  79.  Quoted  in  the  BrUf  Memoir  of  George  Frederic  Eandel,  by  John 
Bishop. 

t  Performances  of  1751 : — BeUluizzar,  three  times  ;  Alexander's  Feast 
and  Clioice  of  Hercules  together,  four  times  ;  Esther,  once  ;  Judas  Mdcca- 
bceus,  twice  ;  after  which  the  tlieaters  wera  closed,  on  the  occasion  of  the 
death  of  Frederic  Prince  of  Wales,  who  died  when  only  forty-four  years 
old.  X  Page  878. 

§  "  About  1746,  Smollett  wrote,  for  Covent  Garden,  an  opera  called 
Alcestes,  which  was  never  acted  or  printed,  owing,  it  is  said,  to  a  dispute 
between  the  author  and  the  manager." — Biography  of  Smollett,  in  Works 
of  the  English  Poets. 

\  See  "  Catalogue,^  Choice  of  Hercules,  1749. 


"alcestes."  341 

justly  enjoys,  these  have  misled  writers  who  copy  with- 
out verifying.  Although  Crosse  is  not  one  of- these,  he 
followed  hini  upon  this  point,  and  adduces,  in  proof  of 
the  flexibility  of  music,  the  application  made  of  that  be- 
longing to  the  opera  of  1749  to  Dryden's  Ode^  which 
was  composed  ten  years  before.  The  "  Catalogue"  will 
explain  the  relation  between  ^1 /cesses  and  Choice  of  Her- 
cules. It  M'ill  be  seen  also,  that  Handel  took  three  pieces 
from  his  forsaken  opera  to  join  them  to  a  revival  oi  Alex- 
ander BcbIus. 

It  must  be  understood  that  if  Handel,  honorable  man 
as  he  was,  made  such  a  use  of  the  music  of  Alcestes^ 
which  was  written  to  pay  a  debt,  it  is  only  because  Rich 
gave  it  up  with  this  intended  English  opera. 

Among  his  bibliographical  rarities,  Mr.  Ayrton  pre- 
serves a  handbook  of  the  oratorio  of  JTercides,  printed 
in  1749,  which  contains  the  following  memorandum  in 
old  manuscript : — "  The  last  chorus  of  the  second  act, 
*  Still  caressing,'*  is  taken  from  a  musical  entertainment, 
intended  by  Rich,  called  Alcestes.  The  song  parts  by 
T.  M.,  and  set  by  Mr.  Handel.  But  Mr.  R.  rejected  it, 
as  being  too  good  for  his  performers."  From  which  it 
follows,  that  if  Rich  did  not  produce  Alcestes^  it  was  be- 
cause he  did  not  wish  it  to  be  murdered,  and  that  Al- 
cestes is  what  we  very  improperly  call  a  comic  ojyera^  a 
piece  in  prose,  with  songs  intermixed,  since  T.  M.  (doubt- 
less,  Thomas  Morell)  had  written  "  the  song  parts."  In 
Alcestes  (the  Alcides  of  Arnold)  there  are  really  only 
thirteen  musical  pieces,  although  the  opera  is  in  four 
acts.  As  this  memorandum  agrees  with  Hawkins  and 
with  Smollett's  biographer  in  calling  the  English  opera 
Alcestes.,  Arnold  is  evidently  in  the  wrong  when  he  calls 

*  The  author  of  the  note,  the  beginning  of  which  is  cut  by  the  bind- 
ing of  the  book,  doubtless  referred  to  Alcestes^  to  which  "Still  caressing" 
belongs.  This  chorus  was  introduced  in  some  revival  of  Hercules  (it  is 
added  to  Smith's  copy  of  Hercules^  in  the  collection  of  scores  used  by 
Handel),  but  is  not  a  part  of  the  mythological  oratorio. 


342  LIFE    OF    HANDEL. 

it  Alcides.  In  the  short  and  solitary  note  which  he  has 
taken  the  trouble  to  add  to  the  forty  volumes  of  his  edi- 
tion, he  explains  that  the  copy  of  the  opera,  which  was 
forgotten  at  the  theater,  and  afterward  recovered,  was 
given  to  him. 


CHAPTER   X. 

1752—1759. 

"Jephtha" — Handel  smittrx  with  Blindness — He  continues  to  give  An- 
nual Performances  of  Oratorios — IIis  Genius  no  longer  Disputed — 
"TriuiMph  of  Time  and  Truth"— Death  of  Handel — His  Music  Per- 
formed Everywhere,  to  the  Exclusion  of  all  others — His  Influence — 
Pasticcio  attributed  to  him. 

Ox  the  2 6 til  of  February,  1752,*  Handel  produced 
Jephtha^  the  last  of  his  works.  It  was  the  song  of  the 
swan.  The  ah*,  "  Waft  her,  angels,"  was  invariably  per- 
formed at  the  festivals,  when  these  musical  solemnities 
were  composed  of  detached  pieces.  "  In  gentle  mur- 
murs" is  a  most  graceful  invention,  and  if  "  Farewell,  ye 
limpid  springs"  were  used  in  concerts,  it  would  be  as 
successful  as  the  admirable  "  Before  my  eyes"  of  Rohin 
des  Bois.  I  do  not  hesitate  to  assert  that  there  is  no 
modern  Italian  quintett  which  is  more  melodious  than 
that  of  "  All  that  is  in  Hamor."  And  how  many  other 
splendid  things  are  there,  without  even  mentioning  the 
incomparable  recitative,  "  Deeper  and  deeper !"  It  is 
scarcely  to  be  believed  that  such  beauties  could  be  be- 
gotten in  a  head  that  had  numbered  sixty-seven  winters. 
Cradock  says  that  in  June,  1774,  the  whole  of  Jephtha^ 
the  Utrecht  Te  Deum^  Jubilate^  and  the  Coronation 
Anthems^  were  sung  at  Leicester:  "Lord  Sandwich  both 
days  took  the  kettle-drums."  I  have  a  handbook  of  this 
oratorio,  which  was  printed  for  the  "  Gloucester  Music 
Meeting"  of  1772.  Our  fathers  were  much  happier  than 
we  ;  for  they  could  sometimes  listen  to  these  great  works, 

*  Performances  of  1752 : — Joshua^  three  times ;  JepMJia^  three  times  ; 
Samson,  three  times ;  Judas  Maccahceus,  three  times  ;  The  Messiah,  twice. 


344  LIFE     OF     HANDEL, 

which  modern  conductors  (with  the  single  exception  of 
Ml'.  Surnian)  leave  slumbering  in  their  glory. 

Commenced  on  the  21st  of  January,  1751,  Jephtha 
was  only  finished  on  the  30th  of  August.  It  is  the  only 
work  that  Handel  ever  took  so  long  about ;  he  was  work- 
ing at  it  when  the  gutta  serena  compelled  him  to  desist. 
The  punctuality  with  which  he  dated  all  his  compositions 
permits  us  to  fix  the  precise  epoch  of  the  attack.  The 
first  and  second  acts  w^ere  written  between  the  21st  of 
January  and  the  27th  of  February ;  the  third  was  only 
commenced  on  the  18th  of  June.  The  General  Adver- 
tiser of  the  15th  of  June  informs  us  that  "  on  Thursday 
last,  Mr.  Handel  arrived  in  town  from  Cheltenham  Wells, 
where  he  had  been  to  make  use  of  the  waters,"  The 
third  act  was  partly  completed  on  the  lYth  of  July,  but 
the  author  was  compelled  once  more  to  stop ;  he  gave 
the  last  touch  to  this  work,  which  had  been  so  painfully 
composed,  and  proceeded  to  the  filling  up  of  the  orches- 
tration (the  part  which  he  always  reserved  to  the  last) 
only  on  the  loth  of  August,  and  could  not  finish  it  be- 
fore the  30th.  Thus,  we  may  see  him  fighting  hand  to 
hand  with  the  malady,  seizing,  and  once  more  seizing  the 
pen,  as  sufiering  tore  it  from  his  grasp.  Courage  did 
not  fail  him,  but  his  sight  was  fast  going.  By  the  last 
pages  of  the  MS.,  it  appears  only  too  plainly  that  his 
vision  was  no  longer  clear  when  he  traced  them.  Yet, 
sick  as  he  was,  the  intrepid  old  man  arose  once  more 
when  charity  had  need  of  him.  It  has  been  already 
noted  that  he  gave  two  performances  of  The  Messiah  at 
the  Foundling  Hospital,  on  the  18th  of  Aj^ril  and  on  the 
IGth  of  May,  1751,*  "  with  an  extempore  on  the  organ." 
At  this  time  he  was  indeed  forced  to  improvise,  since  the 
(lutta  serena  compelled  him  to  lay  aside  Jephtha. 

He  submitted  three  times  to  a  painful  operation,  the 
last  in  1 752.  "  Yesterday,"  says  the  Theatrical  Eer/is- 
ter  of  the  4th  of  May,  in  that  year,  "  George  Frederic 
*  See  page  288. 


HANDEL     BECOMES     BLIND-  345 

Handel,  Esq.,  was  couch'd  by  Wm.  Bramfield,  Esq.,  sur- 
geon to  her  Royal  Highness  the  Princess  of  Wales,  when 
it  was  thouglit  there  was  all  imaginable  hopes  of  success 
by  the  operation,  which  must  give  the  greatest  pleasure 
to  all  lovers  of  music." 

Alas,  no  !  blind  he  was  to  remain,  as  his  mother  had 
been  in  her  old  days.  On  the  2'7th  of  January,  1753,  a 
journal  announced  that "  Mr.  Handel  has  at  length,  un- 
happily, lost  his  sight.  Upon  his  being  couch'd  some 
time  since,  he  saw  so  well,  that  his  friends  flattered  them- 
selves his  sight  was  restored  for  a  continuance ;  but  a 
few  days  have  entirely  put  an  end  to  their  hopes." 

Handel  blind — Beethoven  deaf!     Sad  similitude! 

This  cruel  misfortune  afllicted  him  at  first  profoundly ; 
but  when  he  was  compelled  to  recognize  that  the  evil 
w^as  without  a  remedy,  his  manly  soul  got  the  upper 
hand,  he  resigned  himself  to  his  fate,  and  resolved  to 
continue  his  oratorio  performances. 

At  that  time  there  were  no  orchestral  conductors, 
armed  with  a  baton,  as  we  know  them  now.  The  maes- 
tro used  to  conduct  in  person  upon  the  organ,  or  upon 
the  harpsichord,  and  gave  the  movements.  In  this  sense 
he  conducted  tlie  orchestra  and  the  choruses ;  but  the 
leader  of  the  orchestra  (properly  so  called)  w^as  the 
first  violin,  who  marked  the  time  with  his  bow,  as  those 
who  know  how  to  play  upon  the  violin  do  even  to  the 
present  day.  Habeneck  never  conducted  the  famous 
Societe  des  Concerts  du  Conservatoire  of  Paris  with  any 
thing  but  his  bow.  Handel  says  in  his  letter  from  Dub- 
lin (in  which  he  gave  an  account  of  his  performances), 
"for  the  instruments,  they  are  really  excellent;  Mr. 
Dubourg  being  at  the  head  of  them."  Dubourg  was  a 
violinist. 

When  Handel  became  blind,  he  thought  he  could  no 
longer  preside  upon  the  organ,  and  sent  for  his  pupil, 
Christojjher  Smith,  who  was  then  traveling  in  France, 

15* 


346  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

*'  to  assist  liim  in  the  approaching  Lent  season."*  Smith 
quitted  every  thing  to  please  him,  and  they  began  the 
season  on  the  9th  of  March,  1753.t  At  each  perform- 
ance, Handel  played  as  usual  a  concerto  on  the  organ, 
which  was,  for  the  great  mass  of  the  public,  one  of  the 
great  attractions  offered  on  those  occasions.  SanisoJi, 
one  of  his  favorite  oratorios,  was  in  the  programme  of 
the  season.  In  spite  of  all  his  moral  energy,  the  author 
could  not  listen  untroubled  to  the  pathetic  air  of  the 
sightless  Hercules  of  the  Hebrews,  in  which  he  gave  ut- 
terance to  his  immense  grief — "  Total  ecHpse  !  No  sun, 
no  moon  !"  Then  it  was  that  they  saw  the  grand  old 
man,  who  was  seated  near  the  organ,  grow  pale  and 
tremble,  and  when  they  led  him  forward  to  the  audience, 
which  was  applauding,  many  persons  present  were  so 
forcibly  affected  that  they  were  moved  even  to  tears.J 
And  we  may  still  be  sharers  in  that  emotion,  as  when  we 
recall  the  circumstances  of  that  scene,  and  remember 
that  the  verse  was  composed  by  Milton  : 

"  Total  Eclipse  !     No  sun,  no  moon  ! 
All  dark  amidst  the  blaze  of  noon  ! 
O  glorious  light !     No  cheering  ray 
To  glad  my  eyes  with  welcome  day  ; 
"Why  thus  deprived  thy  prime  decree  ? 
Sun,  moon,  and  stars  are  dark  to  me." 

That  year  Smith  presided  at  the  organ  ;§  but  Handel 
afterward  resumed  it  up  to  the  close  of  his  life.  We 
find  him  there,  a  month  after  the  close  of  the  season,  at 
the  Foundling  Hospital ;  for  the  General  Advertiser  of 
the  2d  of  May,  1753,  says — "Yesterday,  the  sacred  ora- 
torio called  Messiah  was  performed  in  the  Chapel  of  the 
Foundling  Hospital,  under  the  directien  of  the  inimita- 
ble composer  thereof,  G.  F.  Handel,  Esq.,  who,  in  the 

*  Anecdotes  of  Handel,  etc.,  p.  44. 

+  Performances  of  1753  : — Alexander's  Feast,  with  the  Choice  of  Her- 
cules, twice ;  Jephiha,  twice  ;  Judas,  three  times ;  Sainson,  three  times  ; 
The  Messiah,  once. 

X  Anecdo  tesof  Handel,  etc.,  p.  45.  §  Ibid. 


JOHN    STANLEY.  847 

organ  concerto,  played  hiraself  a  voluntary  on  the  fine 
organ  he  gave  to  the  Chapel."  He  was  so  familiar  with 
his  own  works  that  we  can  not  refuse  to  believe  that  he 
really  conducted  it,  remembering,  also,  that  the  time  was 
beaten  by  the  first  violin. 

His  cotemporaries  witnessed  a  yet  more  extraordinary 
thing.  John  Stanley,  who  had  lost  his  sight  when  only 
two  years  old,  became  such  an  accomplished  musician, 
that  he  presided  upon  the  organ  at  the  performance  of 
oratorios  !  It  is  impossible  to  doubt  this  incredible  fact. 
The  Public  Advertiser  of  the  2d  of  March,  1753,  an- 
nounces :  "  For  the  Small  Pox  Hospital,  at  the  King's 
Theater,  will  be  performed  Alexander's  JFhast,  by  Mr. 
Handel,  with  a  concerto  on  the  organ  by  3Ir.  Sta7ilei/, 
who  is  to  conduct  the  per f ordnance.'''  Burney,  who  was 
an  ocular  witness,  says  positively,  that  after  Handel's 
death,  The  Messiah  was  performed  at  the  Foundling 
Hospital  "  eight  times  under  tlie  conduct  of  Mr.  Smith, 
and  nine  under  that  of  Mr.  Stanley."  This  blind  man 
must  have  committed  to  memory  all  the  score  and  all 
the  movements  only  by  hearing  them  played  ;  and  this 
supposes  a  memory  and  musical  faculties  positively  pro- 
digious. It  is  said  that  Miss  x\rlond,  his  step-sister,  played 
to  him  upon  the  harpsichord  a  score  from  one  end  to  the 
other  07ily  once^  and  that  he  afterward  knew  it  as  well  as 
if  he  had  composed  it  himself.  This  phenomenon  was 
born  in  1713,  and  died  in  1786. 

But  is  it  true  that  Handel,  in  continuing  his  laborious 
life,  had  only  his  memory  to  depend  upon  ?  Was  he  from 
1753  to  the  end  of  his  days  entirely  and  absolutely  as 
blind  as  Stanley  was  ?  Mainwaring*  and  Burneyf  affirm 
most  positively  that  he  was  so  ;  but  a  recent  discovery 
has  given  rise  to  a  doubt  in  my  mind.  The  final  air  of 
Iphis,  in  Jephtha^  "  Freely  I  to  heaven  resign  all  that  is 
in  Hamor  mine,"  which  is  m  the  original  MS.,  and  which 
appears  in  the  handbooks  of  1752,  was  replaced  by  a 
*  Page  138.  t  Commemoration^  p.  29. 


348  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

duet,  finisliiiig  in  a  quintett,  "All  that  is  in  Hamor  mine, 
freely  I  to  heaven  resign."  A  copy  of  this  duo-quintett* 
is  interpolated  at  the  end  of  the  copy  oi  Jephtha  in  the 
Smith  collection,  where  the  original  air,  "Freely  I  to 
heaven,"  is  crossed  out.  When  did  this  substitution  take 
place  ?  The  quintett  appears  for  the  first  time  in  a  hand- 
book oi  Jeplitha^  dated  1758,  and  this  oratorio  was  actu- 
ally performed  on  the  1st  of  INIarch,  1758,  according  to  the 
PuUiG  Advertiser,  "  with  additions  and  alterations."  It 
had  been  given  also  on  the  17th  and  21st  of  March,  1753, 
and  on  the  2d  of  April,  1756  ;  but  the  advertisements  of 
these  three  performances  make  no  mention  of  "  additions 
and  alterations."  I  am  not  aware  of  any  handbooks  of 
Jephtha  dated  1753  or  1756,  and  therefore  can  discover 
nothing  from  that  quarter.  But  one  thing  remains : 
whether  the  duo-quintett,  as  near  as  it  is  possible  to  ver- 
ify the  fact,  belongs  to  1758?  In  Smith's  copy  of  it 
there  is  a  note  of  music  corrected  with  a  pencil,  which 
is  authentically  the  handwriting  of  Handel  himself  This 
note  has  been  traced  by  a  trembling  hand,  and  is  rather 
higher  than  the  line  upon  which  the  corrector  wished  to 
place  it;  which,  whether  it  belongs  to  1756  or  to  1758, 
demonstrates  that  Handel,  at  one  of  these  epochs,  had 
recovered  his  sight  to  a  certain  degree,  and  that,  by  look- 
ing very  closely,  at  a  thing,  it  w^as  not  absolutely  impos- 
sible for  him  to  see  a  little. 

The  signatures  to  the  codicils  of  his  original  will  and 
of  the  duplicatef  appear  to  confirm  this  conjecture. 
Those  of  the  6th  of  August,  1756,  have  all  the  irregu- 
larity of  a  man  completely  blind  ;  those  of  the  22d  of 
March,  1757,  ai-e  very  imperfect,  but  not  so  much  so  as 

*  Let  it  be  observed,  in  passing,  that  this  piece  of  delicious  melody  is 
not  an  original  composition ;  Mr.  Lacy  recognizes  it  in  the  duet,  "  T'amo, 
si,"  in  Ricardo^  v/ith  some  modifications. 

t  The  original  is  in  the  care  of  the  Prerogative  Court  of  Canterbury,  at 
Doctors'  Commons,  London.  The  duplicate  is  in  the  possession  of  an 
amateur,  Mr.  Snoxell,  Avho  holds  it  frona  the  heir  of  Amyant,  Handel's 
testamentary  oxp^'utnr.     Those  documents  will  presently  be  given. 


WAS     HE    TOTALLY    BLIND?  349 

to  preclude  a  belief  that  liis  vision  was  not  entirely  de- 
stroyed ;  those  of  the  4th  of  August  are  much  better 
still,  the  letters,  although  very  wide  apart  from  each 
other,  being  very  well  formed  and  very  distinct — only  in 
the  duplicate  the  three  names  fill  one  below  the  otlier. 
It  follows,  therefore,  either  that,  without  being  able  to 
see  perfectly,  he  saw  better  than  in  the  month  of  March, 
or  that  he  had  acquired  the  habit  of  signing  without  be- 
ing able  to  see.  Those  of  the  11th  of  April,  1*759,  are 
in  the  wiiting  of  a  man  entirely  blind. 

I  do  not  maintain  that  a  single  note  in  pencil,  or  that 
even  the  appearance  of  the  signatures  made  in  March 
and  August,  175 7,  can  immediately  upset  tlie  assertions 
of  two  cotemporary  authors ;  but  I  thought  it  my  duty 
to  express  the  doubt  which  I  feel  upon  the  subject,  be- 
cause it  is  founded  upon  serious  observation,  and  would 
acquire  importance  if  any  corroborative  facts  were  dis- 
covered. Those  who  suifer  no  longer  upon  the  earth 
still  live  sympathetically  for  those  who  love  and  admire 
them,  and  it  would  be  a  consolation  to  know  that  there 
w^ere  at  least  intermissions  in  Handel's  blindness,  and  that 
the  man  who  was  so  great  and  so  charitable,  was  not  to- 
tally deprived  of  the  light  of  the  sun  during  his  later  days.* 

Blindness  seemed  to  paralyze  the  still  powerful  author 
of  JepJitha ;  at  least,  he  thenceforth  did  nothing  which 
occupied  a  long  time.  Occasionally  his  brain  emitted  a 
few  sparks,  like  a  fire  smoldering  under  its  ashes.  The 
duet,  "  Sion  now  her  head  shall  raise,"f  and  the  chorus, 
"  Tune  your  harps,"  were  dictated  to  Smith  for  Judas 
Macccibmns.  Perhaps  they  belong  to  1758,  for  Judas 
was  advertised  for  the  3d  of  March,  "  with  new  additions 
and  alterations.''^; 

*  See  Appendix  T. 

+  Crosse,  copying  the  Blograpliia  Dramatica^  puts  in  the  place  of  this 
duet  the  air,  "  "Wise  men  flattering."  He  is  deceived. .  "  Wise  men" 
was  also  an  additional  air ;  but  it  is  an  amplification  of  an  air  in  Agrip- 
pina,  "  Se  vuoi  pace,  o  volto  amato." 

X  Performances  during  1758: — Jephtha,  JielsJiazzar,  and  Israel,  each 


350  LIFE    OP    HANDEL. 

In  1757,  at  the  same  time  when  Mozart  came  into  the 
world,*  there  appeared  at  Covent  Garden  Triumph  of 
Time  and  Truths  "altered  from  the  Italian,  with  several 
new  additions  ;"f  an  augmented  translation  of  the  orato- 
rio of  1708,  II  Trionfo  del  Tempo  e  del  disinganno. 
One  personage  was  added — Deceit.  Hawkins,  Burney, 
and  Arnold  agree  in  assigning  Triumpjh  of  Time  to  1751. 
They  seem  to  have  thought  it  impossible  that  Handel, 
when  he  had  been  four  years  blind  and  seventy-two 
j^ears  old,  could  still  have  composed  ;  but  the  fact  is  in- 
contestable. The  proofs  will  be  stated  in  the  "  Cata- 
logue," article  Triumph  of  Time^  1757.  This  oratorio 
had  been  sung  in  Italian  during  the  seasons  of  1737  and 
1739.  Why  then  the  translation  of  1757  ?  It  may  be 
that  the  secular  language  of  the  opera  disturbed  the  re- 
ligious scruples  of  those  who  were  fond  of  sacred  music. 

Triiimpjh  of  Time  is  not,  as  it  is  generally  stated  to  be, 
a  mere  version  of  J7  Trionfo.  The  English  score  has  no 
fewer  than  seventeen  additional  pieces,  of  which  nine  are 
entirely  new,  and  were  necessarily  dictated  by  the  au- 
thor. The  eight  others  are  taken  from  former  works.J 
Moreover,  all  the  recitatives  have  been  changed  without 
any  apparent  reason,  for  the  English  words  are  a  very 
close  translation  of  the  Italian  text.  To  his  dying  day, 
Handel  was  never  sparing  of  his  labors.  The  additions 
are  worthy  of  him.  "  False  destructive  way"  is,  above 
all,  an  air  full  of  warmth. 

once  ;  Juclas^  twice  ;  Triumpli  of  Time,  twice ;  The  Messiah,  three  times. 
The  preceding  performances,  of  which  I  have  not  liad  occasion  to  give 
an  account,  consisted,  in  1754,  of — Joshua,  once ;  Samson,  once  ;  The 
Messiah,  once  ;  Alexander  Baelus,  twice ;  Deborah,  twice ;  Savl,  twice ;  Ju- 
das, twice.  In  1755  : — Alexander's  Feast,  with  Choice  of  Hercules,  twice  ; 
Allegro,  with  Dryden's  Ode,  once ;  Joseph,  once  ;  Theodora,  once  ;  Sam- 
son, once  ;  Judas  and  Tlie  Messiah,  each  twice.  In  1756 : — JejMha  and 
Deborah,  each  once  ;  Athalla,  three  times  ;  Israel,  Judas,  and  The  Messiah, 
each  twice. 

*  That  prodigious  genius  was  born  on  the  27th  of  January,  1756. 

t  Performances  in  1757: — Triumph  of  Time,  four  times;  Esther  and 
T}ie  Messiah,  twice  each;  Israel,  Joseph,  and  Judas,  each  once. 

X  See  "Catalogue." 


DEATH     OF     HANDEL.  351 

The  failure  of  liis  strength  determined  Handel,  in  1757, 
to  make  a  codicil  to  his  will  (which  was  dated  1750),  but 
did  not  prevent  him  from  continuing  his  performances. 
A  handbook  of  Triumph  of  Time  and  Truths  dated 
1758,  is  inscribed  "with  several  new  additions."  He 
mastered  his  age  and  the  infirmities  which  overcome  the 
strono-est.  At  the  bemnninef  of  1759,  his  health  declined 
more  and  more  ;  he  lost  his  immense  appetite.  Main- 
waring  says : — "  He  was  very  sensible  of  the  approach 
of  death,  and  refused  to  be  flattered  by  any  hopes  of 
recovery."  But  even  then  he  did  not  suspend  his  activ- 
ity ;  to  the  death  this  valiant  athlete  w^ould  not  succumb. 
The  Public  Advertiser'  of  the  24th  of  February,  1759, 
announced  the  opening  of  the  oratorio  season  for  the 
2d  of  March,  by  "  Solomon^  with  new  additions  and  al- 
terations." Afterward,  on  the  9th,  "  Susannah^  with 
new  additions  and  alterations;  on  the  14th,  16th,  and 
21st,  Samson  ;  on  the  23d  and  28th,  Judas  Maccabceus  ; 
on  the  30th  of  March,  and  on  the  4th  and  6th  of  April, 
77ie  ^lessiahy  The  Fichlic  Advertiser  of  the  5th  of 
April,  1759,  announced — "At  the  Theater  Royal  in 
Covent  Garden,  to-morrow,  Friday,  the  6th  of  April, 
will  be  presented  a  sacred  oratorio  called  The  Jfessiah, 
being  the  last  time  of  performing  it  this  season.  To 
begin  a  half  an  hour  after  six."  This  advertisement, 
which  was  repeated  on  the  6th — "This  evening.  The 
Messiah''^ — corrects  all  that  has  been  said  upon  the  sub- 
ject. It  was  indeed  on  the  6th  of  Aj^ril,  at  Covent  Gar- 
den, and  not  at  the  Foundling  Hospital,  that  the  master- 
piece was  performed  for  the  last  time  under  the  direction 
of  the  autlioi". 

After  returning  home  from  this  performance,  he  went 
to  bed  never  to  rise  again.  Seized  wnth  a  mortal  exhaus- 
tion, and  feeling  that  his  last  hour  was  come,  in  the  full 
plenitude  of  his  reason,  he  added  one  more  codicil  to 
his  will,  and  gently  rendered  up  his  soul  on  the  anniver- 
sary of  the  first  performance  of  27ie  Jlessiah,  Good  Fri- 


352  ^  LIFE    OP    HANDEL. 

day,  the  18th  of  April,  1759,  aged  seventy-four  years, 
one  month,  and  twenty-one  days. 

This  man,  whose  music  and  whose  name  filled  all  En- 
gland, seems  to  have  disappeared  almost  without  the 
fact  being  noticed.  On  the  7th  of  April,  the  Public 
Advertiser  announced  The  Messiah^  at  the  Foundling 
Hospital,  for  "  the  3d  of  May,  at  twelve  o'clock,  under 
the  direction  of  G.  F.  Handel,  Esq."  On  Thursday,  the 
12th,  the  same  journal  inserted  the  following  paragraph, 
without  making  any  allusion  to  his  illness  : — "  From  the 
trustees  of  the  Westminster  Hospital — Earl  of  Lincoln, 
president.  The  anniversary  sermon  at  St.  Margaret's 
Church,  and  dinner  at  the  George  Tavern,  on  Thursday, 
26th  April,  Mr.  Handel's  new  Te  Deum^  the  grand  cho- 
rus, '  For  the  Lord  God,'  from  The  Messiah^  and  the 
Coronation  Anthem^  '  God  save  the  King,'  will  be  per- 
formed, under  the  direction  of  Dr.  Boyce.  The  public 
rehearsal  to  be  at  the  church  on  Monday,  23d,  at  ten 
o'clock."  On  the  following  day,  Friday,  the  13th  of 
April,  there  was  another  announcement  of  The  3Ies- 
siah^  "  under  the  direction  of  the  author,"  at  the 
Foundling  Hospital,  on  the  3d  of  May,  and,  side  by 
side,  this  shnple  line,  "  Yesterday  morning,  died  G.  F. 
Handel,  Esq." 

The  fatal  news  was  anticipated  by  a  day;  for,  on 
Monday  the  16th,  the  Public  Advertiser  said: — "Last 
Saturday,  and  not  before,  died  at  his  house  in  Brook- 
street,  Grosvenor  Square,  that  eminent  master  of  music, 
George  Frederic  Plandel  Esq."  The  London  Chronicle^ 
or  ZTniversal  Evening  Post^  for  the  14th  to  the  17th  of 
April,  says  the  same  thing,  "  Saturday  last,  and  not  be- 
fore." This  was  still  inexact.  "  He  expired,"  says  Bar- 
ney,* "  on  Friday^  the  ISth^  1759,  and  not  on  ^aturdjCiy^ 
the  14:th^  as  was  first  erroneously  engi-aved  on  his  monu- 
ment. I  have  indisputable  authority  for  the  contrary ; 
as  Dr.  Warren,  who  attended  Handel  in  his  last  sickness, 
*  Commemoration,  page  31. 


HUMAN    GRATITUDE.  353 

remembers  his   dying  before  midnight,   on   the    13th, 
Good  Friday." 

Thus  it  may  be  said  that  he  died  obscurely,  in  the 
midst  of  all  his  glory  and  all  his  charity.  At  the  very 
time  when  he  drew  his  last  breath,  the  journals  varied 
from  the  12th  to  the  14th  in  recording  that  event;  but 
on  the  12th,  the  13th,  and  the  14tli,  his  works  were  em- 
ployed, for  the  thousandth  time,  as  the  surest  means  of 
increasing  the  funds  of  the  hosj^itals. 

On  the  19th  of  April  the  administrators  of  the  Found- 
ling Hospital  repeated  their  advertisement  for  the  3d  of 
May,  without  adding  a  single  word  of  regret,  and  merely 
substituting,  "under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Smith,"  for 
"  under  the  direction  of  G.  F.  Handel,  Esq."  A  worthy 
and  notable  example  of  human  gratitude  !  Subsequently, 
however,  they  recollected  that  he  had  been  one  of  the 
most  generous  benefactors  of  the  establishment,  and 
mustered  up  sufficient  grief  for  the  occasion  to  give  an 
entertainment  of  sacred  music,  "  in  grateful  memory  of 
G.  F.  Handel,  Esq."  and  retailed  their  grief  at  half  a 
guinea  the  ticket.  "  From  the  Foundling  Hospital : — 
In  GRATEFUL  MEMORY  of  Gcorge  Fredcric  Handel, 
Esq.,  on  Thursday,  the  24th  day  of  May,  at  the  chapel 
of  the  hospital,  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  John  Chris- 
topher Smith,  will  be  a  performance  of  sacred  music, 
which  will  begin  exactly  at  12  o'clock  at  noon.  Tickets, 
half  a  guinea  each.  Mr.  Stanley  will,  on  this  occa- 
sion, perform  a  concerto  on  the  organ.  Gentlemen 
are  desired  to  come  ^^dthout  swords,  and  ladies  with- 
out hoops.  Books  may  be  had  at  the  hospital,  price 
sixpence."* 
^  By  what  species  of  men  were  the  journals  of  those 
days  edited  ?  All  that  can  be  found  upon  the  death  of 
the  great  musician  is  a  pitiful  anonymous  acrostic,  in- 
serted in  the  Public  Advertiser  of  the  17th  of  May  : 

*  Public  Advertiser,  22d  of  May,  1759. 


354  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

*'  He  's  gone ;  the  soul  of  harmony  is  fled ! 
And  -warbling  angels  hover  round  him  dead. 
Never, — no,  never,  since  the  tide  of  time, 
Did  music  know  a  genius  so  sublime ! 
Each  mighty  harmonist  that's  gone  before 
Lessened  to  mites,  when  we  his  works  explore." 

When  the  people  of  Halle  heard,  on  the  2d  of  May, 
that  he  was  no  more,  they  ordered  public  prayers  to  be 
offered  up  in  the  Lutheran  Church  of  St.  Laurent,  where 
he  was  baptized. 

After  a  life  constantly  agitated  and  cruelly  tormented, 
it  may  be  said  that  Handel  died  happy.  It  is  true  that 
all  his  former  enemies  had  not  repented ;  for  some,  whose 
hatred  was  implacable,  had  given  signs  of  activity  in 
April,  1753.  He  was  seventy  years  old,  and  blind,  when 
some  one  inserted  in  the  journals  a  paragraph  to  the  ef- 
fect that  a  funeral  anthem  to  his  memory  was  being  pre- 
pared in  the  chapel  of  the  FoundUng  Hospital.  Mrs. 
Brownlow  says  : — "  The  governors  of  the  hospital  felt, 
naturally  enough,  a  deep  affection  and  veneration  for 
Handel,  and  therefore  when,  in  April,  1753,  a  foolish 
paragraph  appeared  in  the  daily  papers,  stating  that  he 
was  preparing  a  funeral  anthem  to  be  performed  in  the 
chapel  of  the  hospital  after  his  death,  the  committee  de- 
sired their  secretary  to  acquaint  him,  '  that  the  said  para- 
graph has  mven  this  committee  great  concern,  they  being 
highly  sensible  that  all  well-wishers  to  this  charity  must 
be  desirous  for  the  continuance  of  his  life,  who  has  been 
and  is  so  great  and  generous  a  benefactor  thereto.' " 
Fortunately,  the  mind  of  the  august  old  man  was  too 
solidly  constituted  to  be  uncomfortably  impressed  by 
this  anticipatory  notice  of  his  death.  But  this  was  a 
Parthian  shot.  In  fact,  for  the  last  ten  years  all  hostility 
against  him  had  been  stilled ;  men's  minds  were  enlight- 
ened ;  and  the  nobility  (let  it  be  in  justice  to  them 
admitted)  had  the  courage  and  the  good  taste  to  con- 
fess themselves  vanquished  by  his  genius.  It  was  with 
the  applause  of  the  whole  town  that  Garrick,  in  Feb- 


POPULARITY    AT    THE    CLOSE    OF    LIFE.      355 

niary,  1745,  recited  this  prologue  to  The  Mtiries,  by- 
Smith: 

"Struck  with  tlie  wonders  of  his  master's  art, 
Those  sacred  dramas  shake  and  melt  the  heart, 
Whose  heaven-horn  strains  the  coldest  hreast  inspire. 
"Whose  chorus-thunder  sets  the  soul  on  fire  ! 
Inflamed,  astonished  at  those  magic  airs. 
When  Samson  groans,  and  frantic  Saul  despairs, 
The  pupil  wrote — his  work  is  now  before  ye, 
And  waits  your  stamp  of  infamy  or  glory. 
Yet,  ere  his  errors  and  his  faults  are  known. 
He  says  those  faults,  those  errors  are  his  own ; 
If  through  the  cloud  appear  some  glimmering  rays. 
They  're  sparks  he  caught  from  his  great  master's  blaze."* 

The  public  became  more  and  more  attracted  to  the 
performances  of  the  great  master.  /Samson,  Judas,  and 
The  Messiah  never  failed  to  draw  a  compact  crowd , 
and,  after  paying  all  his  debts,  to  his  great  joy,  he  left 
behind  him  a  fortune  of  £20,000.  He  was  insolvent  in 
1746,  a  position  from  which  he  only  recovered  between 
1749  and  1750,  when  enmities  and  indifference  had  been 
completely  set  at  rest.  The  seasons  from  1750  to  1759 
must  therefore  have  been  very  profitable,  to  have  en- 
abled him  to  amass  £20,000,  especially  when  he  only 
gave  ten  or  eleven  performances  each  year.  Burney 
says  that  the  last  of  these  "  was  remarkably  successful. 
One  of  my  friends,  who  was  generally  at  the  performance 
of  each  oratorio  that  year,  and  who  used  to  visit  him 
after  it  was  over,  in  the  treasurer  of  the  theater's  office, 
says,  that  the  money  he  used  to  take  to  his  carriage  of  a 
night,  though  in  gold  and  silver,  was  as  Ukely  to  weigh 
him  down  and  throw  into  a  fever,  as  the  copper  money 
of  the  painter  Correggio,  if  he  had  as  far  to  carry  it."t 

His  genius  was  now  recognized,  and  was  universally 
submitted  to  :  it  seemed  as  if  there  were  no  otlier  music 
in  the  world  beside  his.  Read  a  few  extracts  from  the 
General  Advertiser  of  1751  : — April  18th,  and  16th  of 

*  Gentleman's  Magazine  for  February,  1755. 
t  Commemoration,  page  28. 


356  LIFE    OF    HANDEL. 

May — "  The  Messiah^  for  the  benefit  of  the  FoimdUng 
Hospital."  The  receipts  of  this  performance  amounted, 
as  we  have  seen,*  to  thirteen  hundred  guineas.  April 
30th  and  May  3d — "  For  the  Sons  of  the  Clergy,  the 
J)etti7igeii  Te  Dewn^  the  Utrecht  Jubilate^  and  the 
Coronation  Anthem'*''  (receipts  £1000).  September  27th 
— "  Last  week,  the  three  choirs  of  Gloucester,  Hereford, 
and  Worcester  held  their  annual  meeting  at  Gloucester. 
On  Wednesday,  were  performed  the  Coronation  Ati- 
them,  by  Mr.  Handel,  and  Purcell's  Te  Deum  and  Ju- 
bilate^ and  an  anthem  by  Dr.  Boyce;  and  on  Thursday, 
the  Te  Deum  and  an  anthem  composed  by  Mr.  Handel 
were  performed  in  the  cathedral.  An  oratorio  of  Mr. 
Handel's  was  performed  in  the  Boott  Hall  each  evening. 
On  Wednesday  Alexander's  Feast^  and  on  Thursday 
Milton's  JJ* Allegro  ed  il  Pe^iseroso^  Thursday,  3d  of 
October — "  The  anniversary  festival  of  music  was  cele- 
brated at  Salisbury  on  the  26th  and  2'7th  of  September. 
The  performance  in  the  church  on  the  first  day  con- 
sisted of  Mr.  Handel's  Te  Deum^  composed  for  Duke 
Chandos,  and  two  of  his  celebrated  Coronation  An- 
thems. On  the  second  day  his  Te  Deutn^  composed  for 
his  present  majesty,  together  with  the  remaining  two 
Coronation  Anthems.  At  the  Assembly  Room,  on  the 
first  evening,  was  performed  Alexander'' s  Feast ;  on  the 
second,  the  oratorio  of  Samson  :  both  set  to  music  by  the 
same  great  composer." 

There  was  not  a  concert,  moreover,  in  which  the  over- 
ture to  Samson  did  not  appear.  It  seems  to  have  be- 
come the  favorite  piece  of  the  year.  Nor  was  there  an 
appeal  to  charity  during  that  period  which  did  not  rely 
upon  Handel's  name,  the  better  to  attract  an  audience. 
Of  this  I  have  already  furnished  many  examples.  I  have 
a  handbook  of  Samson  for  the  2d  of  December,  1756 — 
"  For  the  benefit  of  the  City  of  London  Lying-in-Hos- 
pital in  Aldersgate  Street,  at  Haberdasher's  Hall,  in 
Maiden  Lane." 

*  Pages  288,  289. 


HANDEL'S    SUPREMACY.  867 

No  Other  man  has  ever  exercised  a  greater  supremacy 
in  his  sphere  of  action  than  Handel  did. 

The  reader  will  find,  in  the  Appendices  to  the  "  Cata- 
logue of  Works"  (chapter  on  the  Publications  of  Han- 
dePs  Works) ^  an  account  of  the  numerous  collections 
which  Walsh  and  others  have  extracted  from  them.  All 
these  confections  of  his  music,  under  a  thousand  different 
forms — all  these  selections,  in  from  one  to  seven  volumes 
of  airs,  arranged  for  the  harpsichord  and  for  the  flute, 
for  quartetts  and  for  septetts — all  these  minuets  con- 
verted into  songs — all  these  Italian  cavatinas  transformed 
into  English  prayers,  bear  witness  to  the  immense  popu- 
larity Which  he  enjoyed.  He  was  king  of  his  art.  If 
additional  proof  be  required,  read  the  advertisements  in 
the  Public  Advertiser  during  1759,  the  very  year  of  his 
death.  On  the  4th  of  May :  "  for  Giardini's  Concerto 
Spirituale — Overture  of  Saul^  Funeral  Anthem^  etc." 
On  the  10th  of  May:  "for  the  Sons  of  the  Clergy,  at 
St.  Paul's— Overture  of  Esther,  Mr.  Handel's  new  Te 
Deum,  and  Jubilate.  The  grand  chorus  from  Tlie  Mes- 
siah will  be  vocally  and  instrumentally  performed.  To 
conclude  with  Mr.  Handel's  Coronation  Anthem?"*  On 
the  13th  of  June :  "  for  Mr.  Beard's  benefit,  at  Ranelagh 
House,  Allegro  and  PenserosoP  On  the  3d,  4th,  and 
5th  of  July,  at  the  Commemoration,  or  Public  Act,  at 
Oxford :  Samson,  Esther,  and  The  Messiah.  On  the 
13th  of  August:  "for  Mr.  Beard,  at  Hampstead,  Ads 
and  Galatea.^"*  On  the  12th  of  November :  "for  the 
Half-Moon  Subscription  Concerts  in  Cheapside,  Alexan- 
der''s  Feast:''  On  the  15th  November:  "for  the  St. 
Cecilia  Society,*  Samson?'' 

The  movement  which  he  had  given  to  the  minds  of 
men  lasted  for  a  long  time  after  him.  Smith,  w^ho  was 
the  legatee  of  his  MSS.  and  music-books,  continued,  in 
connection  with  John  Stanley,  to  produce  his  oratorios, 

*  The  St.  Cecilia  Society  is  still  in  existence.    It  only  performs  ora- 
torios. 


358  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

and  when  he  retired  from  that  association,  at  the  end  of 
fourteen  years,  Stanley  persevered  in  the  lucrative  enter- 
prise with  Linley,  the  father  of  the  two  celebrated  song- 
stresses of  that  name,  one  of  whom  married  Sheridan  * 
The  gleaners  who  came  after  the  harvest  also  gained 
money  by  making  new  oratorios  out  of  his  music.  His 
name  became  a  talisman.  Israel  in  Babylon — "  oratorio 
performed  at  Covent  Garden,  the  music  selected  from 
the  Avorks  composed  by  Mr.  Handel" — ^vas  produced  in 
1764,  according  to  a  handbook,  "printed  for  the  au- 
thor," and  the  author  (according  to  Burney)  was  a  per- 
son named  Toms,  of  whom  no  mention  seems  to  be  made 
in  any  biographical  work.  In  1769,  Smith  produced 
"  Gideon^  words  by  Dr.  Morell,  the  music  compiled 
partly  from  Handel."  The  handbook  of  this  Gideon^  not 
so  honest  as  the  score,  audaciously  asserted  "  the  music 
composed  by  G.  F.  Handel,  Esq."  In  1766  was  per- 
formed at  the  Haymarket,  with  great  success,  an  orato- 
rio called  Omnipotence^  divided  into  three  parts — Crea- 
tion, Redemption,  and  Salvation.  Under  the  cover  of 
the  handbook,  which  is  inscribed  "  set  to  music  by  Mr. 
Handel,"  the  anonymous  compilers,  Arnold  and  Toms,f 
say  that  this  oratorio  is  taken  from  the  works  of  Handel, 
particularly  from  the  Chandos  Anthems^  "  which  are 
difficult  to  obtain."  The  preface  concludes  with — "This 
attempt  to  retrieve  from  obscurity,  w^orks  which  ought 
long  since  to  have  been  produced  by  those  who  had  the 
means  and  power  of  doing  it,  is  most  respectfully  sub- 
mitted to  the  candor  of  the  public." 

Redemption^  which  was  produced  in  1786,  under  the 
name  of  Handel,  is  also  an  arrangement  by  Arnold. 
Messrs.  D'Almaine  and  Co.  have  wrongfully  engraved 
the  airs  of  this  pasticcio,  as  if  it  were  really  by  the  mas- 

*  There  are  handbooks  of  Semele  dated  1762 ;  of  Delorah^  1764  and 
1775;  of  Israel^  1765  and  1777  ;  oi  Alexander  BcrIvs,  1768  ;  of  Judas  Mac- 
calxjeus,  1762,  1763,  1764,  and  1768;  of  JosepJi,  1768  ;  of  Messiah,  1768  ;  of 
JephtJuiy  1772.  +  Burney. 


OTHER  COMPOSERS  OF  ORATORIOS.    359 

ter ;  Sir  H.  Bishop,  in  the  collection  of  songs,  duets,  and 
trios  by  Handel,  published  by  them,  also  includes  some 
things  from  Redemption.  In  a  catalogue  issued  by 
Messrs.  Purday,  there  is  an  air  from  Gideon^  "  by  Han- 
del." Publishers  ought  to  be  more  scrupulous  than  to 
lead  the  public  into  error  by  such  equivocations.  Re- 
demption  and  Gideon  are  made  out  of  Handel's  music, 
but  they  are  not  really  by  him.  These  gentlemen  may 
urge  that  the  handbooks  of  the  Ancient  Music  Society 
also  contain  airs  from  these  oratorios,  marked  "  by  Han- 
del;" but  it  does  not  excuse  them  to  justify  evil  by 
evil. 

Some  did  not  confine  themselves  to  these  compilations. 
The  public  had  conceived  a  taste  for  this  kind  of  thing, 
and  every  one  wished  to  try  the  experiment.  Smith 
made  four  oratorios.  Green  three,  Arne  two,  Arnold 
four,  etc.  None  of  these  have  survived  :  yet  the  orato- 
rio has  remained  in  England  as  a  comj^osition  which  may 
be  called  indigenous.  New  ones  are  constantly  being 
attempted,  but  it  seems  as  if  they  only  magnify  the 
name  of  the  giant  of  music.  Every  one  else  sufiers  ship- 
wreck upon  that  rock  whereon  he  so  often  stood  like  a 
conqueror.  Mendelssohn's  Elijah  and  ^t.  Paul  only 
have  gained  an  assumed  place  ;  and  although  I  do  not 
understand  the  admiration  which  that  hollow  music  has 
excited,  it  is  my  duty  to  record  it  as  a  fact.  As  for  mere 
modern  attempts,  Mr.  Costa's  Eli  and  Mr.  Leslie's  Em- 
manuel are,  in  my  opinion,  the  only  w^orks  which  deserve 
mention.  Enwianuel^  in  particular,  gives  promise  of  a 
master. 


CHAPTER   XI. 

Handel's  Will— Inventory  of  his  Household  Goods— Proof  of  his  Hon- 
esty—His Funeral- His  Monument  at  Westminster  Abbey— Commemora- 
tion OF  1784— Handel's  Manuscripts — His  Harpsichord — Portraits  of 
him. 

We  desire  to  know  every  tiling  about  a  great  man. 
We  wish  to  have  him  living  before  vis.  It  is  this  which 
causes  the  universal  and  magical  interest  excited  by  me- 
moirs, and  it  is  for  the  purpose  of  gratifying  this  appetite 
that  I  subjoin  Handel's  Will,  from  an  authentic  copy 
made  at  Doctors'  Commons,  where  the  will  is  deposited. 

Extract  from  the  Registry  of  the  Prerogative  Court  of 
Canterbury. 

"  In  the  name  of  God,  Amen.  I,  George  Frideric 
Handel,  considering  the  uncertainty  of  human  life,  do 
make  this  my  Will  in  manner  following,  viz. :  I  give  and 
bequeath  unto  my  servant,  Peter  le  Blond,  my  clothes 
and  linen,  and  three  hundred  pounds  sterling ;  and  to 
my  other  servants  a  year's  wages.  I  give  and  bequeath 
to  Mr,  Christopher  Smith  my  large  harpsichord.,  my  little 
house-organ,  my  music-books,  and  five  hundred  pounds 
sterhng.  Item.  I  give  and  bequeath  to  Mr.  James 
Hunter  five  hundred  pounds  sterling.  I  give  and  be- 
queath to  my  cousin.  Christian  Gottlieb  Handel,  of  Cop- 
enhagen, one  hundred  pounds  sterling.  Item.  I  give 
and  bequeath  to  my  cousin,  Magister  Christian  August 
Roth,  of  Halle,  in  Saxony,  one  hundred  pounds  sterling. 
Item.  I  give  and  bequeath  to  my  cousin,  the  widow  of 
George  Taust,*  pastor  of  Giebichenstein,  near  Halle,  in 
Saxony,  three  hundred  pounds  sterling,  and  to  her  six 

*  Handel's  mother,  Dorothea  Taust,  was  the  daughter  of  George  Taust, 
pastor  of  Giebichenstein.  She  died  blind,  on  the  24th  of  February,  1730, 
aged  eighty  years.  Handel  had  a  sister  named  Dorothea  Sophie,  who 
married  W.  Streit,  This  branch  of  the  tamily,  doubtless,  became  extinct, 
since  the  name  of  Streit  is  not  to  be  found  either  in  the  will  or  in  any  of 
the  codicils. 


HANDEL'S     WILL.  3G1 

children  each  two  hundred  pounds  sterluic^,  all  the  next 
and  residue  of  my  estate  in  Bank  Annuities,  174G,  st't. 
sub.  or  whatsoever  kind  or  nature.  I  give  and  bequeath 
unto  my  dear  niece,  Johanna  Frederica  Floerchen,  of 
Gotha,  in  Saxony,  born  Michaelsen,  in  Halle,  in  whom  I 
make  my  sole  executor  of  this  my  last  will.  In  witness 
whereof  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand,  this  first  day  of 
June,  1750.  George  Feideric  Handel." 

"  I,  George  Frideric  Handel,  make  this  codicil  to  my 
will.  I  give  unto  my  servant,  Peter  le  Bond,  two  hun- 
dred pounds  additional  to  the  legacy  already  given  him 
in  my  will.  I  give  to  Mr.  Christopher  Smith  fifteen  hun- 
dred pounds  additional  to  the  legacy  already  given  him 
in  my  Avill.  I  give  to  my  cousin.  Christian  Gottlieb  Han- 
del, of  Coppenhagen,  two  hundred  pounds  additional  to 
the  legacy  already  given  him  in  my  will.  My  cousin, 
Magister  Christian  August  Roth,  being  dead,  I  give  to 
his  widow  two  hundred  pounds,  and  if  she  shall  die  be- 
fore me,  I  give  the  said  two  hundred  piounds  to  her  chil- 
dren. The  widow  of  George  Taust  and  one  of  her 
children  being  dead,  I  give  to  her  five  remaining  chil- 
dren three  hundred  pounds  apiece,  instead  of  the  legacy 
given  to  them  by  my  will.  I  give  to  Doctor  Morel),  of 
Turnham  Green,  two  hundred  pounds.  I  give  to  Mr. 
Newburgh  Hamilton,  of  Old  Bond-street,  wiio  has  as- 
sisted me  in  adjusting  words  for  some  of  my  composi- 
tions, one  hundred  pounds.  I  make  George  Amyant, 
Esquire,  of  Lawrence  Pountney  Hill,  London,  merchant, 
co-executor  with  my  niece,  mentioned  in  my  will,  and 
give  him  two  hundred  pounds,  which  I  desire  him  to  ac- 
cept for  the  care  and  trouble  he  shall  take  in  my  aftairs. 
In  witness  whereof  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand  and  seal, 
this  sixth  day  of  August,  one  thousand  seven  hundred 
and  fifty-six.  George  Frideric  Handel. 

"  On  the  day  and  year  above  written,  this  codicil  was 
read  over  to  the  said  George  Frideric  Handel,  and  was 
by  him  signed  and  published  in  our  presence. 

"  Tiio.  Harris. 

"  John  Hetherington." 

"  I,  George  Frideric  Handel,  do  make  this  further  co- 
dicil to  my  will.     My  old  servant,  Peter  le  Bond,  being 

16 


362  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

lately  dead,  I  give  to  his  nephew,  John  Duburk,  the  sura 
of  five  hundred  pounds.  I  give  to  my  servant,  Thomas 
Bramwell,  the  sum  of  thirty  pounds,  in  case  he  shall  be 
living  with  me  at  the  time  of  my  death,  and  not  other- 
ways.  In  witness  whereof  I  have  hereunto  set  my 
hand,  the  twenty-second  day  of  March,  one  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  fifty-seven. 

"  Geoege  Feideric  Handel. 

"  On  the  day  and  year  above  written,  this  codicil  was 
read  over  to  the  said  George  Frideric  Handel,  and  was 
by  him  signed  and  published  in  our  presence. 

"  Tiio.  Harms. 

"  John  Hetheeington." 

"  I,  George  Frideric  Handel,  do  make  this  further  co- 
dicil to  my  will.  My  cousin.  Christian  Gottheb  Handel, 
being  dead,  I  give  to  his  sister,  Christiana  Susanna  Han- 
delin,  at  Goslar,  three  hundred  pounds  ;  and  to  his  sister, 
living  at  Pless,  near  Teschen,  in  Silesia,  three  hundred 
pounds.  I  give  to  John  Rich,  Esquire,  my  great  organ 
that  stands  at  the  Theater  Royal,  in  Covent  Garden.*  I 
give  to  Charles  Jennens,  Esquire,  two  pictures,  the  old 
man's  head  and  the  old  woman's  head,  done  by  Denner.f 

I  give  to Granville,  Esquire,  of  Holies-street,  the 

landskip,  a  view  of  the  Rhine,  done  by  Rembrandt,  and 
another,  by  the  same  hand,  which  he  made  me  a  present 
of  some  time  ago.  I  give  a  fair  copy  of  the  score,  and 
all  the  parts  of  my  oratorio  called  the  Messiah ;[  to  the 
Foundling  Hospital.  In  witness  whereof  I  have  hereunto 
set  my  hand,  this  fourth  day  of  August,  one  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  lifty-seven. 

"  George  Feideeic  Handel. 

"  On  the  day  and  year  above  written,  this  codicil  was 
read  over  to  the  said  George  Frideric  Handel,  and  was 
by  hijii  signed  and  published  in  our  presence. 

"  Tho.  Haeris. 

"  John  Maxwell." 

"  I,  George  Frideric  Handel,  make  this  further  codicil. 

*  Burned  in  the  destruction  of  the  theater  by  fire,  on  the  20th  of  Se^>- 
tember,  1808. 

t  These  two  picturea  are  still  at  Gopsall. 

X  This  copy  is  preserved  in  the  archives  of  the  hospital. 


AVILL    AND    CODICILS.  865 

I  give  to  the  gOAeniors  or  trustees  of  tlie  Society  for  the 
Support  of  Decayed  Musicians  and  their  Families  one 
thousand  pounds,  to  be  disposed  of  in  the  most  beneficial 
manner  for  the  objects  of  tliat  charity  ;  I  give  to  George 
Amyand,  Esquire,  one  of  my  executors,  two  hundred 
pounds  additional  to  wliat  I  have  before  given  liim  ;  I 
give  to  Thomas  Harris,  Esquire,  of  Lincohi's  Inn  Fields, 
three  hundred  pounds  ;  I  give  to  Mr.  John  Iletherington, 
of  the  First  Fruits  Ofiice,  in  the  Middle  Temple,  one 
hundred  pounds ;  I  give  to  Mr.  James  Smyth,  of  Bond- 
street,  perfumer,  live  hundred  pounds  ;  I  give  to  Mr. 
Mathew  Dubourg,  musician,  one  hundred  pounds  ;  I  give 
to  my  servant,  Thomas  Bramwell,  seventy  pounds  ad- 
ditional to  wliat  I  liave  betbre  given  him;  I  give  to 
Benjamm  Martyn,  Esquire,  of  New  Bond-street,  fifty 
guineas ;  I  give  to  Mr.  John  Belchar,  of  Sun  Court, 
Tiireadneedie-street,  surgeon,  fifty  guineas;  I  give  all 
my  wearing  apparel  to  my  servant,  John  de  Bourk ;  I 
give  to  Mr.  John  Cowland,  of  New  Bond-street,  apothe- 
cary, fifty  pounds.  1  hope  I  have  the  permission  of  the 
Dean  and  Chapter  of  Westminster  to  be  buried  in  West- 
minster Abbey,  in  a  private  manner,  at  the  discretion  of 
my  executor,  Mr.  Amyand  ;  and  I  desire  that  my  said 
executor  may  liave  leave  to  erect  a  monument  for  me 
there,  and  that  any  sum,  not  exceeding  six  hundred 
pounds,  be  expended  for  that  purpose,  at  the  discretion 
of  my  said  executor.  I  give  to  Mrs.  Palmer,  of  Chelsea, 
widow  of  Mr.  Palmer,  of  Chelsea,  formerly  of  Chappel- 
street,  one  hundred  pounds  ;  I  give  to  my  maid-servants 
each  one  year's  wages  over  and  above  what  shall  be  due 
to  them  at  the  time  of  my  death ;  I  give  to  Mrs.  Mayne, 
of  Kensington,  widow,  sister  ol*  the  late  Mr.  Batt,  fifty 
guineas;  I  give  to  Mrs.  Dovvnalan,  of  Charles-street, 
Berkeley  Square,  fifty  guineas ;  I  give  to  Mr.  Reiche, 
Secretary  for  the  affairs  of  Hanover,  two  hundred  pounds. 
In  witness  whereof  1  have  hereunto  set  my  hand  and  seal, 
this  eleventh  day  of  April,  1'759.  G.  F.  Handel. 

"  This  codicil  was  read  over  to  the  said  George  Frid- 
eric  Handel,  and  by  him  signed  and  sealed,  in  the  pres- 
ence, on  the  day  and  year  above  written,  of  us, 

"  A.  S.  RUDD. 

"  J.  Christopher  Smith." 


36  4  L  I  1'  E     O  F     II  A  N  D  E  L  . 

The  will  is  written  in  English  from  one  end  to  the 
other,  and  is  entirely  in  Handel's  handwriting.  It  is 
easy  to  see  that  he  took  great  pains  about  making  the 
duplicate,  which  is  now  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Snoxell.* 
To  the  codicils,  which  have  all  been  dictated,  the  testa- 
tor only  affixed  his  signature.  The  seal  of  the  fourth 
bears  the  impress  of  a  bearded  head,  sufficiently  like 
that  of  Shakespeare  to  give  a  color  for  the  belief  that 
Handel  sealed  with  the  image  of  the  greatest  of  poets, 
even  when  England  called  him  "  Mr.  William  Shakes- 
peare." 

Mr.  Snoxell  also  possesses,  from  the  same  source  as  he 
does  the  duplicate  of  the  mil,  the  inventory  of  Handel's 
household  goods,  drawn  up  on  the  27th  of  August,  1759. 
Even  taking  into  account  the  articles  which  had  been  re- 
moved in  consequence  of  legacies,  and  that  he  had  been 
blind  for  the  last  six  years  of  his  life,  it  is  remarkable 
with  what  simplicity  the  great  man  lived.  All  his  furni- 
ture, sold  to  his  servant  John  Dubourk,  was  only  valued 
at  £48  sterling.  If  the  reader  should  feel  any  curiosity 
to  know  of  what  it  is  composed,  he  will  find  the  inventory 
in  the  Appendix.f 

It  will  be  perceived  from  his  will  that  Handel  did  not 
forget  his  flimily,  although  he  had  been  absent  from  his 
native  country  forty-seven  years;  but  from  the  multi- 
plicity of  his  subsequent  donations,  it  is  to  be  supposed 
that  he  had  not  then  any  great  affi^ction  for  his  niece,  J. 
Michaelsen,  whom  he  had  constituted  his  residuary  lega- 
tee in  1750. 

The  last  codicil,  although  made  in  articido  mortis^ 
bears  the  traces  of  an  astonishing  memory.  The  only 
point  which  gives  any  sign  of  an  enfeebled  intelligence 
is  the  demand  for  a  monument  in  Westminster  Abbey, 
with  the  expenses  of  which  he  charges  his  estate.  An- 
other fact,  which  is  recorded  in  the  A?iecdotes  of  Han- 

*  See  Appendix  T.  t  See  Appendix  U. 


PROOF    OF    niS    HONESTY.  365 

f?e^,*  shows  that  at  the  end  of  his  life  he  was  strangely 
preoccupied  with  his  future  glory,  but  serves  at  the  same 
time  as  a  new  proof  of  his  admirable  honesty.  lie  had 
promised  Smith  to  leave  him  all  his  manuscripts,  but 
thinking,  after  reflection,  that  their  preservation  would 
be  more  certain  in  a  public  library,  he  resolved  to  deposit 
them  in  the  University  of  Oxford.  Upon  this,  he  offered 
Smith  three  thousand  pounds  if  he  would  renounce  the 
moral  claim  which  his  promise  had  given  him.  But 
Smith  could  not  be  persuaded  to  do  so,  and  when  the 
will  was  opened,  it  was  found  that  the  manuscripts  be- 
longed to  Smith.  The  dying  man  had  sacrificed  to  the 
duty  of  keeping  his  word  that  which  he  regarded  as  a 
means  of  securing  his  renown.  What  strength  of  mind ! 
What  virtue  in  an  artist  of  seventy-four  years  !  Even 
under  the  weaknesses  of  age  he  remained  great.  We 
must  admire  this  all  the  more  when,  examining  our 
own  hearts,  we  consider  the  fascinating  power  of  the 
miserable  suggestions  of  vanity ;  when,  looking  around 
us,  we  see  the  follies,  the  meannesses,  and  the  crimes 
which  these  suggestions  lead  men  to  commit. 

Handel,  in  his  old  man's  vanity,  was  too  modest.  He 
might  have  left  to  others  the  care  of  providing  for  his 
last  resting-place.  He  had  done  so  much  for  the  Found- 
ling Hospital  that  it  was  suggested  he  should  be  interred 
in  the  cemetery  of  that  Institution,  beside  the  founder, 
Captain  Coram.  The  Londo7i  GJironicle  of  the  14th  of 
April,  1759,  says:  "  By  the  death  of  Mr.  Handel,  a  con- 
siderable pension  reverts  to  the  Crown.  We  hear  he 
will  be  buried  at  the  burial-ground  at  the  Foundling 
Hospital,  near  Captain  Coram."  But  the  proper  place 
for  his  ashes  was  at  Westminster  Abbey,  the  Pantheon 
of  Great  Britain.  Tlie  English  nation  bore  them  there 
with  a  unanimous  voice.  Ijmnediately  after  he  ceased 
to  live,  the  grumblings  of  old  cabals,  already  almost  ex- 
tinguished, were  at  an  end.  England  understood  what 
*  Page  40. 


366  LIFE    OP    HANDEL. 

she  had  lost.  "  On  Friday  night,  about  eight  o'clock," 
says  the  Universal  Chro?iicle,  of  the  24th  of  April,  1759, 
"  the  remains  of  the  late  Mr.  Handel  were  deposited  at 
the  foot  of  the  Duke  of  Argyle's  monument  in  West- 
mhister  Abbey;  and  though  he  mentioned  being  privately 
interred,  yet,  from  the  respect  due  to  so  celebrated  a 
man,  the  bishop,  prebends,  and  the  whole  choir  attended 
to  pay  the  last  honors  due  to  his  memory.  There  was  a 
vast  concourse  of  people  of  all  ranks." 

The  Gentleman''s  3Iagazine  of  1759,  says  :  "  It  is  com- 
puted that  there  were  not  fewer  than  3000  persons  pres- 
ent on  this  occasion."  Dr.  Zachary  Pearce,  Bishop  of 
Rochester  and  Dean  of  Westminster,  preached  the  fu- 
neral sermon.*  His  remains  were  placed  in  what  is  called 
"  the  Poet's  Corner,"  in  which  are  assembled  the  immor- 
tals :  Shakespeare,  Milton,  Dryden,  Spenser,  Ben  Jonson, 
Thomson,  Gray,  Garrick,  and  Sheridan.  And  he  was  in 
his  place  there  ;  for  who  was  ever  more  of  a  poet  than 
Handel  ?  Who  deserved  better  to  enter  the  Pantheon? 
They  might  have  written  upon  his  tomb  the  words  which 
Anthony  spoke  when  he  beheld  the  body  of  Caesar,  ^^This 
was  a  man." 

His  monument  was  inaugurated  on  the  10th  of  July, 
I762.f  It  is  by  Roubiliac,  and  represents  him  standing 
in  a  noble  attitude,  leaning  toward  a  table  covered  with 
musical  instruments  and  a  MS.  of  The  Messiah;  the 
face  is  slightly  upturned  heavenward.  Beneath  his  hand, 
which  holds  a  pen,  is  a  leaf  of  The  Messiah^  whereon  is 
written,  "Z  know  that  my  Redeemer  liveth  y"  an  angel, 
seated  on  a  cloud,  playing  upon  a  harp,  above  his  head, 
seems  to  dictate  to  him.  An  organ  occupies  the  entire 
background  of  this  remarkable  composition,  which  can 
only  be  reproached  with  the  fault  common  to  the  age, 
that  of  being  too  theatrical.  The  inscription  beneath  is — 

*  Anecdotes  of  Handel^  etc.,  p.  26. 

+  Annual  Register  and  London  Chronicle,  or  Universal  Evening  Post,  of 
tbe  13th  to  the'lSth  July,  1762. 


MONUMENT    TO     HANDEL.  ,367 

GEORGE  FREDERICK  HANDEL,  Esq., 

Born  February  xxiii.,  mdclxxxiv. 

Died  on  Good  Fiiday,  April  xiii.,  mdccltx. 

L.  F.  Koubiliac,  Sc* 

The  Anmial  Register  and  London  Chronicle  state  that 
the  inscription  originally  stood,  "  Died  April  14."  Since 
they  changed  the  day  of  his  death,  in  order  to  be  cor- 
rect, they  ought  now  to  change  the  year  of  his  birth. 
It  has  already  been  shown  that  Handel  was  born  in  1685, 
and  not  in  1684.  Nor  did  he  call  himself  "Frederick ;" 
during  the  whole  of  his  life  he  signed  his  name  "  Frid- 
eric." 

Above  the  monument  is  the  following  inscription,  cut 
upon  a  large  stone  slab  : 


Within  these  Sacred  Walls  the 
Memory  of  HANDEL 

was  celebrated, 

under  the.  Patronage, 

and  in  the  presence  of 

His  Most  Gracious  Majesty, 

George  the  III., 

On  the  XXVI.  and  xxix.  of  May 

and  on  the  iir.  and  v.  of  June, 

MDCCLXXXIV. 


The  Musick  performed 

on  this  Solemnity 

was  selected  from  his  own  Works, 

under  the  direction  of 

BROWNLOW,  Earl  of  Exeter  ; 

JOHN,  Earl  of  Sandwich; 

HENRY,  Earl  of  Uxbridge  ; 

Sir  WATKIN  WILL^s  WYNN,  Bart., 

and 

Sir  RICHARD  JEBB,  Bart. 


The  Band,  consisting  of 

525  Vocal  and  Instrumental  Performers, 

was  conducted  by 

JOAH  BATES,  Esq.t 

Five  days  occupied  with  five  performances  (four  dur- 
ing the  morning  at  the  Abbey,  and  one  in  the  evening, 
at  a  hall  called  the  Pantheon),  consisting  entirely  of  the 
music  of  one  man  !  Beethoven  and  Mozart  are  the  only 
composers  beside  him  who  could  supply  such  a  pro- 
gramme. It  was  at  first  intended  that  only  three  per- 
formances should  be  given,  but  the  enthusiasm  was  so 

*  Eoubiliac,  who  was  bom  at  Lyons,  died  at  London,  in  1762.  By  an 
extraordinary  coincidence,  this  monument  was  his  last  important  work, 
as  the  statue  at  Vauxhall  had  been  his  first. 

t  Joah  Bates,  one  of  the  Commissioners  of  the  Victualling  Office,  was 
a  scientific  amateur. 


368  LIFE    OF     HANDEL. 

great,  and  the  demands  for  tickets  so  numerous,  that  it 
was  determined  upon  to  repeat  the  two  morning  perform- 
ances at  the  Abbey.*  -, 

*  As  some  readers  may  feel  interested  in  the  programme  of  these  per- 
formances, I  subjoin  it : 

First  performance,  at  the  Abbey,  on  Wednesday,  the  26th  of  May, 
1784: 

Past  1st. — "  Zadok  the  priest,"  from  the  Coronation  Anthems  ;  over- 
ture, Esther  ;  Bettingen  Te  Deum. 

Pakt  2d. — Overture  and  Dead  March  in  Saul ;  "  When  the  ear  heard 
him,"  from  the  Funeral  Anthem;  "He  delivered  the  poor,"  from  the 
Funeral  Anthem  ;  "  His  body  is  buried  in  peace,"  from  the  Funeral  An- 
them ;  "  Gloria  Patri,"  from  the  Jubilate. 

Part  3d. — Ninth  Ghandos  Anthem;  "The  Lord  shall  reign,"  chorus 
from  Israel  in  Egypt;  "Sing  ye  to  the  Lord,"  chorus  from  Israel  in 
Egypt. 

Second  performance,  at  the  Pantheon,  on  Thursday  evening,  27th  of 
May: 

Paet  1st. — Second  Rautbois  Concerto;  "  Sorge  infausta,"  air  in  Orlan- 
do ;  "  Ye  sons  of  Israel,"  chorus  from  Joshua;  "  Eende  il  sereno,"  air  in 
Sosarme  ;  "  Caro  vieni,"  in  Eichard  ;  "  He  smote  all  the  first-born,"  cho- 
rus from  Israel  in  Egypt ;  "Va  tacito  e  nascosto,"  air  in  Julius  Casar. 
Sixth  Grand  Concerto  ;  "  M'allontano  sdegnose  pupille,"  air  in  Atalanta  ; 
"He  gave  them  hailstones,"  chorus  from  Israel  in  Egypt. 

Part  2d. — Fifth  Grand  Concerto  ;  "  Dite  che  fa,"  air  in  Ptolemy  ;  "  Vi 
fida  lo  sposo,"  in  ^tius  ;  "  Fallen  is  the  foe,"  chorus  in  Judas  Macca- 
bcetis  ;  overture  of  Ariad?ie  ;  "Alma  del  gran  Pompeo,"  recitative  in  Ju- 
lius Coesar ;  "Affanni  del  pensier,"  air  in  Otho ;  "  Nasce  al  bosco,"  in 
Stilts;  "  lo  t'abbraccio,"  duet  m  Rodelinda ;  Eleventh  Grand  Concerto; 
"  Ah  !  mio  cor  !"  air  in  Alcina  ;  "  My  heart  is  inditing,"  from  the  Coro- 
nation Authems. 

Third  performance  at  the  Abbey,  Saturday,  May  29  : — The  Messiah. 

Fourth  performance  at  the  Abbey,  June  3  : 

Part  1st. — Overture,  Esther  ;  Dettingen  Te  Deum. 

Part  2d. — Overture  of  Tamerlane  ;  Dead  March  in  Saul;  "  When  the 
ear  heard  him,"  from  the  Funeral  Anthem,  ;  "  She  delivered  the  poor," 
from  the  Funeral  Anthem  ;  "  Her  body  is  buried,"  from  the  Funeral  An- 
them ;  "  Gloria  Patri,"  from  the  Jubilate. 

Part  8d. — "Jehovah  crowned  with  glory,"  air  and  chorus  in  EstJier  ; 
First  Grand  Concerto ;  "  Gird  on  thy  sword,"  chorus  in  Saul ;  Fourth 
Haulbois  Concerto;  anthem,  "O  sing  unto  the  Lord;"  "The  Lord  shall 
reign,"  chorus  from  Mael  in  Egypt;  "  Zadok  the  priest,"  from  Corona- 
tion Anthems. 

Fifth  performance,  at  the  Abbey,  June  5  : — The  Messiah. 

A.t  the  great  Festival  at  York,  in  1825,  they  gave,  in  addition  to  the 


COMMEMORATION     OF     1784.  369 

This  commemorative  festival  had  been  fixed  for  1784, 
because  on  that  year  a  century  was  supposed  to  have 
elapsed  since  the  day  of  Handel's  birth,  and  a  quarter 
of  a  century  since  the  day  of  his  death.  It  was  truly  a 
national  solemnity.  George  the  Third  attended  it  in 
state,  and  presided  over  each  performance,  wearing  on 
his  arm,  in  order  to  do  more  honor  to  the  memory  of 
the  illustrious  dead,  the  scarf  and  medal  of  a  steward. 
The  receipts  amounted  to  the  enormous  sum  of  £12,736 
sterling  ;  part  of  which  was  divided  as  follows  : 

The  Society  of  Decayed  Musicians  .  .£6000 
Westminster  Hospital*  ...  .  .  1000 
Construction  of  scaffolding  in  the  Abbey  1969 
Orchestra 1976 

and  the  rest  in  petty  expenses. 

Burney  has  given  a  very  interesting  account  of  the 
Commemoration  of  1784.  He  has  embellished  it  with  a 
fair  engraving  of  Roubiliac's  sculpture,  a  representation 
of  the  orchestra  as  it  appeared  in  the  Abbey,  a  view  of 
the  tribune  upon  which  the  royal  family  and  privileged 
persons  w^ere  placed,  and  an  engraving  of  the  stewards' 
medal,  representing  on  one  side  the  head  of  the  great 
musician,  with  this  legend  in  exergue,  "  Comm.  of  Han- 
del, MDccLxxxiv.,"  and  on  the  reverse,  "  Sub.  Ausp.  G. 
HI."  (under  the  auspices  of  George  III.)  At  the  end 
of  the  last  century,  it  was  customary  to  have  ornamental 
concert-tickets,  and  Burney  has  given  copies  of  those 
which  were  used  at  the  Commemoration.  They  are 
rather  pretty  engravings  by  Bartolozzi,  after  Cipriani.f 

whole  of  Tlie  MessiaJi,  extracts  from  the  Coronation  Anthem^  the  Dettin- 
gen  Te  Deum^  the  Ghandos  Anthems^  and  Dryden^s  Ode^  Esther^  AtJiaUa, 
Joshua,  Judas  MaccahcBHS,  JepMJia,  Solomon,  Theodora,  Said,  Belshazzar, 
Israel  in  Egypt,  Samson,  and  Ads. 

*  The  Bishop  of  London,  in  permitting  this  festival  within  the  walla 
of  the  Abbey,  made  it  a  condition,  which  can  not  be  blamed,  that  the 
Westminster  Hospital  should  have  a  share  in  the  profits. 

+  Those  tickets  accounted  for  about  £200  in  the  expense  of  the  Com- 
memoration 


370  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

The  first  is  an  ancient  sarcophagus,  with  a  medallion 
of  the  master  upon  it.  The  performance,  which  took 
place  on  the  26th  of  May,  had  been  fixed  for  the  21st  of 
April,  the  anniversary  of  Handel's  funeral,  which  explains 
the  sarcophagus.  In  the  second,  Handel  is  seated,  in  the 
act  of  composing,  while  the  Genius  of  Harmony  places 
on  his  brow  the  crown  of  immortality,  and  an  angel,  fiy- 
ing  up  to  heaven,  bears  his  name  inscribed  upon  a  ban- 
drol.  In  the  third,  England  points  to  a  pyramid  upon 
which  the  name  of  Handel  is  inscribed. 

The  stricter  sort  of  devotees  blamed  the  selection  of 
Westminster  Abbey  as  the  place  in  which  to  hold  the 
festival.  They  were  scandalized  at  the  idea  of  singing 
the  praises  of  a  man,  by  his  works,  in  the  temple  of  the 
Lord,  although  all  his  works  were  for  the  glory  of  the 
Lord,  and  the  poor  gained  by  it  £7000.  The  poet  Cow- 
per,  who  was,  however,  an  excellent  man,  directed  some 
verses  against  what  he  held  to  be 

"  A  deed,  less  impious  than  absurd ;" 

but  even  while  he  blamed 

"the  Commemoration  mad," 

he  yet  paid  homage  to  him  in  whose  honor  it  was  given : 

"  Eemember  Handel !  who  that  was  not  born 
Deaf  as  the  dead  to  harmony,  forgets, 
Or  can,  the  more  than  Homer  of  his  age  ?" 

But  the  "  mad"  criticisms  produced  a  very  slight  impres- 
sion, and  the  festival  w\as  renewed  in  1785-86-87  and  91 ; 
alwaj^s  very  much  to  the  advantage  of  the  poor  and  the 
hospitals.  Since  that  time,  however,  an  excessive  devo- 
tion has  made  great  progress  in  England,  and  in  spite  of 
the  consent  of  the  Bishop  of  London,  who  threw  open 
the  Abbey  in  1784,  and  the  following  years — in  spite  of 
the  adhesion  of  many  of  the  ministers  of  religion,  wdio, 
m  all  surety  of  conscience,  took  part  in  these  festivals, 


CLERICAL    MUSICIANS.  371 

when  it  was  proposed  in  183G  to  celebrate  another  festi- 
val, the  Duke  of  Newcastle  moved  the  House  of  Lords 
twice — on  the  10th  of  April  and  the  1st  of  May — to  re- 
fuse its  permission  to  "  such  a  desecration."  The  Uishop 
of  London  for  the  time  being,  supported  him,  and  to- 
gether they  prevailed ! 

At  the  end  of  the  last  century  the  clergy  had  certainly 
much  more  extended  ideas  than  those  of  the  present 
day,  and  their  reputation  did  not  suffer  on  that  account. 
Not  only  did  the  ministers  -of  religion  take  part  in  sacred 
festivals  which  were  given  in  the  churches,  but  they  even 
assisted  in  the  execution  of  them.  The  Rev.  Daniel 
Lyons  states  that  the  solo  singers  at  the  Worcester  Fes- 
tival of  1773  were  Norris,  Price,  Miss  Linley,  and  Mrs. 
Radcliffe,  "  assisted  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Marcy,  the  clergy, 
and  the  gentlemen  of  the  three  choirs."*  In  1777,  we 
find  the  Reverend  Mr.  Marcy  u[)on  the  jjlatform,  at  the 
Hereford  Festival. f 

To  return,  however,  once  more  to  the  Commemoration 
of  1784.  It  redoubled  the  admiration  of  the  English  for 
Handel,  and  at  that  time  no  music  but  his  was  in  the 
fashion.  Every  body  went  mad  about  him ;  and  many 
gentlemen  wore  rings  bearing  his  portrait  in  miniature. 
When  the  intellectual  atmosphere  of  a  country  is  charged 
with  that  kind  of  electricity,  the  secretions  of  the  poetic 
gland  among  its  inhabitants  always  become  greatly  ex- 
cited. By  virtue  of  this  unpleasant  law  of  nature,  there 
came  a  torrent  of  versified  prose  in  honor  of  the  immor- 
tal musician.  Dr.  Benjamin  Cooke  set  to  music  an  Ode 
to  Handel^  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Scott ;  and  the  Commemo- 
ration  of  Handel^  by  John  Rinsig,  does  not  contain  less 
than  forty-two  octavo  pages  of  verses ! 

"  J'en  passe,  et  des  des  meilleurs." 

Hernani  (Victor  Hugo). 


*  History  of  the  Time  Choirs  of  Gloucester^  Worcester,  and  Hereford^  p. 
205.  .  t  Il^kl.,  p.  207. 


372  LIFE    OF    HANDEL. 

It  has  been  stated  that  Handel  bequeathed  all  his  mu- 
sical books  to  his  pupil,  Christopher  Smith.  He  deserved 
them.  The  King  of  Prussia  offered  £2000  for  the  col- 
lection of  MSS. ;  but  Smith,  who,  through  love  to  his 
master,  had  already  refused  £3000  from  Handel  himself, 
would  not  accept  the  offer.  He  did  not  wish  to  separate 
himself  from  his  treasure,  nor  would  he  permit  it  to 
go  out  of  England.*  At  a  later  period,  having  become 
attached  to  the  household  of  the  Dowager  Princess  of 
Wales,  the  mother  of  George  the  Third,  she  granted 
him  a  pension  of  £200  a  year.  After  the  death  of  the 
princess,  the  king  graciously  continued  the  pension  out 
of  his  privy  purse,  presenting  the  grant  with  his  own 
hands  to  Smith,  who  was  then  growing  old.  The  worthy 
man,  touched  by  this  kindness,  offered  to  George  the 
Third,  as  a  return,  a  present  which  was  more  than  royal ; 
he  gave  him  all  the  MSS.,  Handel's  harpsichord,  and  the 
marble  bust  of  the  great  man  which  had  been  executed 
by  Roubiliac ;  keeping  for  himself  a  portrait  painted  by 
Denner  in  1736  or  1737,  and  the  scores  which  Handel 
had  used  in  conducting  the  performances  of  his  works. f 

Such  is  the  origin  of  the  Handelian  collection  at  Buck- 
ingham Palace.  It  has  frequently  been  stated  that  it 
was  purchased  by  George  the  Third  ;  and  it  is  only  just 
to  both  the  prince  and  the  artist  to  prove  that  it  was 
generously  given  and  not  sold — nobly  accepted  and  not 
paid  for.  It  consists  of  Handel's  original  MSS.,  to  the 
number  of  eighty-seven  volumes.  It  is  in  the  royal  palace 
of  London,  but  not  lodged  there,  it  must  be  confessed, 
in  a  royal  style.  Buried  m  a  sort  of  j^rivate  office,  and 
still  kept  in  its  poor  original  binding,  it  is  concealed  from 
all  the  world  ;  and,  I  may  say  (using  the  figurative  ex- 
pression of  an  old  nursery  tale),  that  if  I  loere  the  qiieen^ 
I  should  have  those  precious  volumes  bound  in  crimson 
velvet,  mounted  with  gold,  and  I  should  have  a  beautiful 
cabinet  to  hold  them,  which  should  be  surmounted  by 

*  Anecdoten  of  Handdy  p.  49.  t  Ihid.^  p.  55. 


BUSTS    OF    HANDEL.  3^3 

Roubiliac's  fine  bust,  and  su])ported  by  four  statues  of 
white  marble,  representing  Sacred  and  Profane  Music, 
Moral  Courage  and  Honesty.  This  I  should  ])lace  in  the 
throne-room  of  my  palace,  proclaiming  by  this  means  to 
every  one  that  it  is  one  of  the  most  invaluable  jewels  of 
the  English  crown. 

The  bust  which  was  presented  to  George  the  Third 
now  adorns  the  magnificent  gallery  of  the  queen's  private 
apartments  at  Windsor.  As  for  the  harpsichord,  all  my 
researches  have  not  enabled  me  to  ascertain  what  has  be- 
come of  it.* 

Another  marble  bust,  also  by  Roubiliac,  is  at  the 
Foundling  Hospital.  It  is  said  that  the  sculptor  made  it 
at  the  same  time  as  the  Vauxhall  statue  of  1738.  Mr. 
Bartleman,  the  conductor,  acquired  it  when  the  proper- 
ties in  the  gardens  were  sold,  and  at  the  death  of  Bartle- 
man it  was  offered  for  sale  ;  Mr.  Pollock  bought  it  and 
presented  it  to  the  hospital.  It  is  a  superb  work,  full  of 
life.  The  head  is  shaved  and  covered  with  a  cap,  which 
is  artistically  arranged.  A  very  good  cast  of  it  has  been 
taken,  and  copies  may  now  be  easily  obtained.  The 
Windsor  bust  wears  the  large  wig  whose  motions  used 
to  be  regarded  with  such  attention  in  the  orchestra.  It 
is,  without  doubt,  one  of  these  two  marbles  of  which 
plaster-casts  were  thus  announced  in  the  Public  Adver- 
tiser of  the  19th  of  April,  1758  : — "To  the  lovers  of  mu- 
sic, particularly  those  who  admire  the  compositions  of 
George  Frederic  Handel,  Esq. — F.  Bull,  at  the  White 
Horse,  on  Ludgate  Hill,  London,  having,  at  a  great  ex- 
pense, procured  a  fine  model  of  a  busto  of  Mr.  Handel, 
proposes  to  sell  by  subscription  30  casts  in  plaster  of 
Paris.  The  subscription  money  is  one  guinea.  The 
busto,  which  will  make  a  rich  and  elegant  piece  of  furni- 
ture, is  to  be  23|-  inches  high,  and  18  inches  broad." 
The  twenty-three  and  a  half  inches  high,  by  eighteen 
inches  broad,  could  not  fail  to  persuade  a  large  number 
*  See  Appendix  V. 


3Y4  LIFE    OF    HANDEL. 

of  musical  amateurs  into  purchasing,  upon  such  excellent 
terms,  "  a  rich  and  elegant  piece  of  furniture." 

The  head  of  the  statue  in  the  monument  at  Westmin- 
ster Abbey  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  best  portraits  of 
Handel.  RoubiHac  used  for  it  a  mold  which  he  had 
taken  from  nature  on  the  very  day  of  Handel's  death.  A 
few  proofs  of  that  precious  mold  have  been  taken  and  dis- 
tributed, but  I  have  been  unable  to  find  a  copy  any- 
where, and  the  oldest  amateurs  tell  me  that  they  have 
never  seen  one.  I  only  know  of  its  existence  through  a 
little  woodcut,  which  is  itself  of  excessive  rarity. 

Denner's  picture  now  belongs  to  the  Sacred  Harmonic 
Society,  upon  which  it  was  bestowed  by  the  present  Lady 
Rivers,  in  January,  1857.  It  has  been  engraved  for  the 
A?iecdotes  of  Handel  and  Smith.  This  painting  has 
some  of  the  qualities  and  all  the  defects  of  its  author. 
Denner,  who  worked  in  oil  with  the  delicate  minuteness 
of  an  enamel,  and  who  painted  even  the  pores  of  the 
skin  and  the  separate  hairs  of  the  beard  or  a  fur  lining, 
could  not  comprehend  the  powerful  face  of  the  author  of 
Israel  in  Egypt. 

There  are  many  portraits  of  Handel,  which  are  very 
different  from  each  other.  Every  artist  interpreted,  in 
his  own  manner,  and  wished,  as  it  is  said,  to  idealize 
him;  but  the  traditions  of  the  great  masters — of  Titian, 
Correggio,  Vandyke,  Rubens,  Philippe  de  Champagne, 
and  Rigaud — traditions  recovered  by  Reynolds,  by  Law- 
rence, and  by  Sigalon,  were  lost  in  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury. Mr.  Snoxell  possesses  one  by  Wolfand,  who,  even 
more  than  Denner,  has  made  a  Handel  after  his  own 
taste — fat,  rosy,  in  excellent  condition,  and  looking  like 
a  rich  man  quite  contented  with   himself     It  is  very 

ugly. 

The  Royal  Musicians'  Society  has  two  portraits  by 
Hudson,  one  of  which  appears  to  be  the  duplicate  of  the 
other.  This  is  the  best  known  of  all,  as  it  has  been  the 
most   frequently    coi)iod.     Arnold   has   given   it   in   his 


PORTRAITS    OF    HANDEL.  375 

edition.  The  original  mezzotint  engraving,  which  is  a 
good  work,  is  due  to  Faber,  and  is  dated  1745,  Handel 
is  in  full  dress,  and  is  seated,  witli  an  open  roll  of  music 
in  his  hand.  The  painter  has  given  an  extraordinary  de- 
gree of  animation  to  his  features ;  but  the  head  appears 
to  me  to  be  too  short,  and  the  contour  of  the  face  too 
round. 

Mr.  Forsteman  says  that,  in  1844,  two  grand-daughters 
of  Johanna  Friderica  Florchen,  nee  Michaelsen,  the 
niece  and  god-daughter  of  Handel,  still  possessed,  at 
Halle,  several  precious  things — watches,  rings,  etc. — 
which  came  to  theirgrandmother  by  virtue  of  her  uncle's 
will,  as  well  as  "  the  line  original  portrait  painted  by 
Hudson."  The  miracle  of  the  multiplication  of  the 
loaves  has  been  revived  for  this  "  fine  portrait  painted 
by  Hudson."  Here  we  have  it  at  Halle  ;  already  it  has 
been  stated  to  be  at  the  Royal  Musicians'  Society  at  Lon- 
don ;  moreover  it  is  said  to  be  at  Windsor  ;  and,  finally, 
Messrs.  D'Almaine,  the  music  publishers,  pretend  also,  in 
their  catalogue,  that  they  have  it  in  their  shop.  I  have 
not  been  able  to  discover  the  Windsor  one  in  any  part 
of  the  castle  which  is  open  to  the  public  ;  that  at  Halle  is 
too  far  distant ;  and  as  for  that  of  Messrs.  D'Almaine,  it  is 
not  improbably  an  advertising  puff,  for  these  gentlemen 
are  unable  to  produce  it  when  asked  for ;  but  there  is 
one  clearly  signed  "  T.  Hudson,  1756,  f),"  at  Gopsall.  In 
this  Handel  is  represented  life-size,  full-length,  seated, 
dressed  in  a  coat  and  shot-silk  breeches,  gorge  de  pigeon^ 
embroidered  with  gold.  He  wears  a  sword  by  his  side, 
and  holds  a  long  cane  in  his  hand.  Under  the  left  arm 
he  carries  a  little,  flat,  three-cornered  hat.  His  head  is 
covered  with  an  immense,  long,  w4)ite  wig.  At  the  pe- 
riod when  this  was  taken  he  was  seventy-two  years  old. 
It  was  painted  expressly  for  Charles  Jennens.  Mr.  Lons- 
dale, the  music  publisher,  has  a  copy  of  it  reduced  to  a 
half-length,  inherited  from  Dr.  Arnold.  It  is  to  be  ob- 
served that  in  this  portrait,  although  Handel  was  then 


376  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

blind,  the  eyes  are  tliose  of  a  man  who  can  see.  It  is 
said  that  the  cjiitta  serena  does  not  alter  the  outward  ap- 
pearance of  the  eyes. 

I  found  at  Cambridge,  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Ward, 
a  great  amateur  of  music,  a  little  head,  in  oil,  very  well 
executed  by  Grafoni.  It  has  a  very  marked  character  ot 
individuality ;  the  type  is  exactly  the  same  as  that  by 
Hudson,  at  Gopsall,  but  fuller ;  age  had  not  then  given 
him  that  sharp  expression  which  it  imprints  upon  the  hu- 
man face  while  contracting  it.  In  that  head,  which  looks 
sixty  years  old,  there  are  the  same  features  as  in  Roubil- 
iac'sbust,w^ith  the  cap  on,  though  older,  and  consequently 
less  vigorously  marked.  I  am  greatly  indebted  to  Mr. 
Ward  for  his  kindness  in  permitting  me  to  have  a  copy 
made. 

Mr.  Ellerton,  a  rich  composer,  possesses  also  a  portrait 
of  Handel,  a  half  length  life-size,  and  painted  (says  its 
history)  in  1720,  by  Thornhill,  for  the  Duke  of  Chandos. 
It  is  a  very  fine  picture.  The  composer  is  seated  at  an 
organ,  dressed  in  a  coat  of  green  velvet,  with  a  red  vel- 
vet cap  upon  his  head,  arranged  something  in  the  style 
of  Roubiliac's  bust.  The  head  is  turned  to  the  right, 
with  a  pleasant  and  bold  expression.  It  is  a  superb  face, 
although  it  already  had  a  double  chin.  The  person  is 
strong  and  tall ;  in  fact,  just  what  the  fine  old  man  whom 
Hudson  and  Grafpni  painted  ought  to  have  been,  when 
only  thirty-five  years  old.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  Mr. 
Ellerton  has  not  caused  this  excellent  picture  to  be  en- 
graved. 

One  of  the  best  known  portraits  is  that  which  pro- 
ceeded from  the  admirable  graver  of  Houbraken,  for 
Randall's  edition.  It  is  after  a  picture  of  the  same  size 
as  the  engraving,  and  signed  "  F.  Kyte,  1742."  Handel 
was  then  fifty-eight  years  old.  Hawkins  has  pronounced 
it  to  be  "  the  only  good  one,  but  that  the  features  are  too 
prominent."* 

*  Page  912. 


PORTRAITS     OF    HANDEL.  37? 

Hawkins  was  probably  not  acquainted  with  that  at 
Gopsall,  nor  witli  that  whicli  has  come  into  Mr.  Ward's 
possession.  Iloubraken's  plate  resembles  the  two  latter 
with  the  exception  of  that  heaviness  with  which  it  is 
justly  reproached.  Mr.  Keith  Mihies,  in  a  memoir  pub- 
lished in  1829,  explains  that  he  accidentally  met  with 
Kyte's  little  picture,  and  had  it  engraved  again  for  his 
own  satisfaction,  by  F  C.  Lewis,  who  has  endeavored  to 
correct  the  faults,  without  succeeding,  in  my  opinion. 
These  pieces  of  manufacture  are  never  very  happy,  for  a 
portrait  can  never  be  made  by  guesswork.  It  is  even 
better  to  have  an  imperfect  original.  Mr.  Milnes,  who 
is  now  advanced  in  years,  is  an  enthusiastic  Handelian, 
and  shares  his  engravings  with  whosoever  loves  and  ven- 
erates "  the  greatest  of  musicians." 

It  would  require  at  least  ten  pages  even  to  enumerate 
the  portraits  of  Handel  which  have  been  engraved  or 
lithographed.  I  have  collected  fifty-three,  and  there  are 
probably  more  in  existence.  It  will  be  sufficient  to  say 
that  the  best  two  are  those  bv  Houbraken  and  Faber. 


CHAPTER    XII. 

The  Character  and  Genius  of  Handel. 

Although  Handel  was  born  when  his  father  was  sixty 
years  old,  he  was  a  man  of  very  powerful  constitution, 
and  of  great  muscular  vigor.  His  cotemporaries  repre- 
sent him  as  being  endowed  with  a  rare  beauty  of  coun- 
tenance. Burney  thus  describes  him :  "  The  figure  of 
Handel  w^as  large,  and  he  was  somewhat  corpulent,  and 
unwieldy  in  his  motion ;  but  his  countenance,  which  I 
remember  as  perfectly  as  that  of  any  man  I  saw  but  yes- 
terday, was  full  of  fire  and  dignity,  and  such  as  impressed 
ideas  of  superiority  and  genius."  And  in  a  subsequent 
paragraph — "  Handel's  general  look  was  somewhat  heavy 
and  sour,  but  when  he  did  smile,  it  was  his  sire  the  sun 
bursting  out  of  a  black  cloud.  There  was  a  sudden  flash 
of  intelligence,  wit,  and  good  humor  beaming  in  his 
countenance,  which  I  hardly  ever  saw  in  any  other." 

Nichols,  in  his  Literary  Anecdotes^  records  it  as  an 
expression  of  Purney,  that  "Handel's  smile  w^as  like 
heaven."  Hawkins  says :  "  He  was  in  his  person  a  large 
and  very  portly  man.  His  gait,  which  was  very  saunter- 
ing, was  rather  ungraceful,  as  it  had  in  it  somewhat  of 
that  rocking  motion  which  disthiguishes  tliose  whose  legs 
are  bowed.  His  features  w^ere  finely  marked,  and  the 
general  cast  of  his  countenance  placid,  bespeaking  dignity 
attempered  with  benevolence,  and  evei-y  quality  of  the 
heart  that  has  a  tendency  to  beget  confidence  and  insure 
esteem."  Thanks  to  the  busts  of  Roubiliac,  and  to  the 
pictures  of  Thornhill,  Hudson,  Denner,  Kyte,  and  Gra- 
foni,  we  may  say  that  we  are  familiar  with  the  features 
of  Handel.      It  is  a  fine,  noble,  and  imposing  counte- 


HANDEL'S     WIT.  379 

nance,  oval  in  form,  of  a  grave  physiognomy,  firm,  but 
at  the  same  time  benevolent.  Three  characteristics  are 
remarkable  in  it :  the  smallness  of  the  mouth ;  the 
brightness  of  the  eyes,  which  are  very  wide  open,  ani- 
mated and  bold,  and  which  betoken  a  violent  and  reso- 
lute man  ;  and,  finally,  the  short  and  prominent  eyebrows, 
generally  a  sign  peculiar  to  profound  and  powerful  think- 
ers.    Such  eyebrows  had  Bach  and  Beethoven. 

Like  almost  all  composers,  he  was  extremely  witty. 
In  the  Anecdotes  of  Handel  we  are  told  that  "  his  af- 
fected simplicity  gave  to  any  thing  an  exquisite  zest." 
Mattheson  says  that  "  he  had  a  way  of  speaking  peculiar 
to  himself,  by  which  he  made  the  gravest  people  laugh, 
without  ever  laughing  himself."  Dr.  Quin,  of  Dublin, 
wrote  to  Burney  in  1788:  "Mrs.  Vernon  was  particu- 
larly intimate  with  him ;  and  at  her  house  I  had  the 
pleasure  of  seeing  and  conversing  with  Mr.  Handel,  who, 
with  his  other  excellences,  was  possessed  of  a  great  stock 
of  humor.  No  man  ever  told  a  story  with  more  effect. 
But  it  was  requisite  for  the  hearer  to  have  a  competent 
knowledge  of  at  least  four  languages — English,  French, 
Italian,  and  German,  for  in  his  narrative  he  made  use  of 
them."  "All  his  natural  propensity  to  wit  and  humor," 
adds  Burney,  "  and  happy  manner  of  relating  common 
occurrences  in  an  uncommon  way,  enabled  him  to  throw 
persons  and  things  into  very  ridiculous  attitudes.  Had 
he  been  as  great  a  master  of  the  Englivsh  language  as 
Swift,  his  hon  mots  would  have  been  as  frequent,  and 
somewhat  of  the  same  quality." 

Once  at  a  concert,  Dubourg,  the  excellent  violin- 
player,  having  a  Coda  ad  lihitum  to  play,  wandered 
about  in  diiferent  keys  so  long  that  he  seemed  quite  be- 
wildered, and  to  have  forgotten  his  original  key.  Event- 
ually he  recollected  himself,  came  to  the  shake,  and  con- 
cluded ;  whereupon  Handel,  with  his  usual  coolness,  cried 
out  loud  enough  to  be  heard  by  the  audience,  "  You  are 
well  come  at  home,  Mr.  Dubourg." 


380  LIFE    OF    HANDEL. 

Once  he  had  a  discussion  with  an  English  singer, 
named  Gordon,  who  reproached  him  with  accompanying 
liim  badly.  The  dispute  grew  warm  (which  it  was  never 
very  long  in  doing  with  Handel),  and  Gordon  finished 
by  saying  that  if  he  persisted  in  accompanying  him  in 
that  manner,  he  would  jump  upon  his  harpsichord  and 
smash  it  to  pieces.  "  Oh,"  replied  Handel,  "  let  me  know 
when  you  will  do  that  and  I  will  advertise  it ;  for  I  am 
sure  more  people  will  come  to  see  you  jump  than  to  hear 
you  sing." 

When  he  heard  the  serpent  for  the  first  time,  he  was 
very  much  shocked  by  the  harshness  of  the  sound,  and 
cried  out,  "  Vat  de  tevil  be  dat  ?"  He  was  told  that  it 
was  a  new  instrument,  called  serpent.  "  Oh,"  he  replied, 
"  de  serbent,  aye  ;  but  it  not  be  de  serbent  vat  setuced 
Eve."*  I  admit  this  anecdote,  because  it  is  a  good  one, 
but,  at  the  risk  of  passing  for  a  skeptic,  I  can  not  ac- 
cept it  absolutely.  The  serpent  was  a  hundred  years  old 
wlien  Handel  came  into  the  world,  and  it  is  difficult  to 
believe  that  they  met  for  the  first  time  in  London. 

It  is  related  that,  when  Handel  lost  his  sight,  "  his  sur- 
geon, Mr.  Sharp,  having  asked  him  if  he  was  able  to  con- 
tinue playing  the  organ  in  public,  for  the  performance 
of  the  oratorios,  Handel  replied  in  the  negative.  Sharp 
recommended  Stanley  as  a  person  whose  memory  never 
failed  ;  upon  which  Handel  burst  into  a  loud  laugh,  and 
said,  '  Mr.  Sharp,  have  you  never  read  the  Scriptures  ? 
do  you  not  remember,  if  the  blind  lead  the  blind,  they 
will  both  fall  into  the  ditch  ?'  "f  Even  in  their  most 
helpless  misery,  men  of  wit  never  deny  themselves  the 
consolation  of  a  joke.  The  reader  may  recall  to  mind 
that  Anaximenes  bartered  his  life  against  the  pleasure 
of  indulging  in  a  sarcasm.  Having  offended  Antigonus, 
who  was  blind  of  one  eye,  it  was  reported  to  him  that 
Antigonus  had  said,  "  Let  him  come  and  excuse  himself, 
and  directly  he  appears  before  my  eyes  I  will  pardon 
*  Busby.  t  Anecdotes  of  Handel. 


HIS    MANNERS    AND    EDUCATION.  381 

him."  "  If,"  replied  Anaximenes,  "  I  must  appear  before 
his  eyes^  he  oflers  me  an  impossible  pardon."  Whereupon 
Antigonus  condemned  liim  to  death. 

Unlike  the  greater  number  of  witty  men,  however, 
Ilandel  never  exhibited  any  ill  feeling  in  his  jocularity. 
His  sallies  were  inoffensive.  He  cut  without  wounding. 
"  He  was,"  says  Burney,*  "  impetuous,  rough,  and  per- 
emptory in  his  manners  and  conversation,  but  totally  de- 
void of  ill  nature  or  malevolence  ;  indeed,  there  was  an 
original  humor  and  pleasantry  in  his  most  lively  sallies  of 
anger  and  impatience  which,  with  his  broken  English, 
were  extremely  risible." 

In  spite  of  his  disposition  for  merriment,  he  was  very 
proud  and  very  reserved  toward  every  body,  the  little  as 
well  as  the  great.  This  side  of  his  character  is  illus- 
trated in  a  remarkable  manner  in  his  MSS.,  where  he 
generally  indicated  the  names  of  the  artists  in  the  mar- 
gin of  the  jDart  which  was  confided  to  them.  Upon  no 
occasion  did  he  ever  fail  to  put  "Mr."  or  "  Sig""."  before 
these  names.  During  the  ten  years  that  Senesino  and 
Beard  sung  for  him,  and  in  the  tenth  year  just  as  in  the 
first,  he  always  wrote  theii*  names  "  Sig'.  Senesino,"  and 
"  Mr.  Beard." 

Hawkins  pretends  that,  with  the  exception  of  music, 
lie  was  an  ignorant  man  ;  and  all  the  hackneyed  biogra- 
phers repeat  the  assertion.  I  do  not  believe  this.  His 
letters  in  the  French  language,  which  remain  to  this  day, 
prove  that  he  not  only  spoke  but  wrote  that  language, 
although  he  had  never  been  in  France.  He  knew  Italian 
well,  and  although  he  spoke  English  with  a  very  strong 
accent,  he  had  studied  the  idiom  so  as  to  be  able  to  com- 
prehend all  the  beauties  of  the  poets.f  Such  linguistic 
attainments,  which  are  still  not  very  common,  were  very 
rare  in  his  time,  and  do  not  prove  that  his  education  had 
been  neglected.  His  father,  who,  like  all  German  doc- 
tors, was  acquainted  with  Latin,  had  made  him  study  the 

*  Commemoration^  page  31.  t  Hawkins.    Burney. 


382  LIFE     OF    HANDEL. 

classics,  and  it  is  certain  that  he  read  Latin.  Hawkins 
liiuiself  says — "  He  was  well  acquainted  with  Latin."  Li 
his  MSS.  are  to  be  found  some  slight  proofs  of  this.  In 
the  German  Passion^  instead  of  putting  "  da  capo  al 
segno,"  he  wrote  "  usque  ad  signura ;"  and  he  never  ex- 
pressed the  preposition  de  otherwise  tlian  by  ex.  It  is 
not  less  certain  that  he  worked  upon  several  of  the 
poems  for  his  oratorios.  There  is  nothing  very  precise 
about  the  part  which  he  took,  but  a  clause  in  his  will 
leaves  no  doubt  as  to  the  fact.  "I  give,"  says  he,  "to 
Mr.  Newburg  Hamilton,  icho  has  assisted  me  in  adjust- 
ing words  for  some  of  my  compositions?'^  All  this  does 
not  certainly  indicate  an  illiterate  man ;  and  if  it  be 
added,  that  Handel  had  the  kind  of  mind  which  derives 
the  full  benefit  of  whatever  it  learns,  it  is  difficult  to  be- 
lieve that  he  was  so  uncultivated  as  has  been  pretended. 
But,  after  all,  no  great  importance  is  to  be  attached  to 
the  question.  Whether  ignorant  or  not,  he  w^as,  never- 
theless, one  of  the  most  learned  composers  in  the  world. 

He  was  very  absent,  and  in  the  habit  of  talking  to  him- 
self in  such  a  loud  tone  of  voice,  that  it  was  not  very 
difficult  to  learn  the  sul)ject  of  his  soliloquies.  Once 
there  was  brought  to  him  a  young  man  whose  taste  for 
music  and  good  dispositions  had  been  praised  greatly. 
But  the  lad  ran  away,  and  on  the  next  day  the  forsaken 
protector  was  heard  communing  with  himself,  as  he  took 
his  walk  in  Hyde  Park,  "  Der  teeffel !  de  fater  was  de- 
sheeved ;  de  mutter  was  desheeved  ;  but  I  was  not  de- 
sheeved ;  he  is  eint  t — d  schountrel  and  coot  for  nut- 
ting."* 

It  will  have  been  observed  that  the  author  of  The 
Messiah  had  unfortunately  adopted  the  detestable  cus- 
tom of  the  foshionable  world  in  his  day,  by  swearing 
upon  every  occasion.  His  religious  sentiments  do  not 
appear,  in  fact,  to  have  been  very  strong.  "  The  '  Hal- 
lelujah' of  The  Messiah^^  writes  Dr.  Beattie,f  "  tends  to 

*  Bumey,  Commemoration^  page  37.  +  Vol.  ii.,  page  75. 


HIS    KELIGIOUS    SENTIMENTS.  383 

confirm  ray  theory  that  Handel,  in  spite  of  all  that  has 
bee?i  said  to  the  contrary^  must  have  been  a  pious  man." 
Main  waring*  declares  that  he  resisted  all  the  pressing 
eflforts  which  were  made  at  Rome  and  at  London  to 
make  him  change  his  faith ;  but  he  replied  that  "  he  was 
resolved  to  die  a  member  of  that  communion,  Avhether 
true  or  false,  in  which  he  was  born  and  bred."  This 
way  of  looking  upon  a  creed  is  more  indicative  of  a  de- 
termined character  than  of  a  soul  penetrated  with  the 
truths  of  religion.  He  seemed  to  take  such  matters 
somewhat  at  his  ease.  Hawkins  says  :f — "In  his  religion 
be  was  of  the  Lutheran  profession,  in  which  he  was  not 
such  a  bigot  as  to  decline  a  general  conformity  with  that 
of  the  country  which  he  had  chosen  for  his  residence;  at 
the  same  time  he  entertained  very  serious  notions  touch- 
ing its  importance."  St.  Paul  was  more  severe  than 
Hawkins ;  for  he  did  not  hold  it  to  be  consistent  with 
Christianity  to  acconmiodate  herself  to  the  worship  of 
Pagans.  I  doubt,  moreover,  whether  a  clergyman  would 
think  well  of  any  member  of  the  English  church  who, 
when  at  Rome,  should  conform  to  the  ceremonies  of  the 
Catholics,  and  write  music  for  St.  Peter's. 

Nevertheless,  toward  the  close  of  his  career,  Handel 
became  attached  to  religion  with  the  same  ardor  that  lie 
brought  to  bear  upon  every  intellectual  matter.  "  The 
loss  of  his  sight,  and  the  prospect  of  his  approaching  dis- 
solution," says  Hawkins  again,  "  brought  a  great  change 
in  his  temper  and  general  behavior.  For  the  last  two  or 
three  years  of  his  life  he  was  used  to  attend  divine  ser- 
vice in  his  own  parish  church  of  St.  George,  Hanover 
Square,  where,  during  the  prayers,  the  eyes  that  at  this 
instant  are  employed  in  a  faint  portrait  of  his  excellences 
have  seen  him  on  his  knees,  expressing,  by  his  looks  and 
gesticulations,  the  utmost  fervor  of  devotion. "J 

Burney  says  :§ — "  For  several  days  before  his  death, 

*  Page  G4.  f  Page  911. 

X  Pages  910  and  911.  §  Commeinoraiion^  page  31. 


384  LIFE     OF     UANDEL. 

he  expressed  the  wish  that  he  might  breathe  his  last  on 
Good  Friday,  'in  hopes,'  ho  said,  'of  meeting  his  good 
God,  his  sweet  Lord  and  Saviour  on  the  day  of  his  res- 
urrection.' "  It  so  happened  that  that  consolation  was 
not  denied  him. 

Handel  was  generous,  and  was  always  giving :  a  sure 
proof  of  an  elevated  mind.  When  he  had  been  at  Ham- 
burg a  very  short  time,  his  mother,  in  spite  of  her  pov- 
erty, sent  him  a  sum  of  money,  in  the  behef  that  he  had 
not  enough  for  his  needs  ;  but  he,  w^ho  had  got  employ- 
ment in  the  theater  to  play  upon  the  violin,  and  was  also 
giving  private  lessons,  sent  the  money  back  again  to 
that  good  mother,  adding  to  it  a  present  from  himself. 
He  was  then  only  nineteen  years  old. 

It  ha,s  been  seen  that  among  the  causes  of  his  second 
failure  were  the  large  salaries  which  he  invariably  paid 
to  his  artists,  even  when  he  could  not  cover  his  own  ex- 
penses. He  was  not  contented  wdth  giving  away  his 
superfluity,  he  gave  even  out  of  his  necessity.  In  the 
midst  of  the  derangement  of  his  aflTairs,  he  was  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  Society  for  the  Relief  of  Distressed  Mu- 
sicians,* and  he  gave  almost  every  year  a  great  perform- 
ance for  its  benefit.  "  His  liberal  sentiment,"  says  the 
author  of  A7iecdotes  of  IIandel^\  "  not  only  influenced 
him  in  the  day  of  prosperity,  but  even  when  standing  on 

*  In  the  printed  rules  of  the  society,  printed  in  May,  1738  (it  was  es- 
tablished on  the  19th  of  April  preceding),  may  be  found  the  following 
subscribers.  It  may  interest  some  readers  to  find  united  the  names  of 
the  musicians  who  were  cotemporary  with  the  giant : — "  G.  F.  Handel, 
Esq.;  Dr.  Boyce,  composer;  Dr.  Arne,  composer;  J.  Beard,  singer; 
F.  Caporale,  violoncellist ;  H.  Carey,  poet  and  composer  ;  J.  Corfe,  com- 
poser ;  Cortiville,  flutist ;  Cervetto,  vilonceUist ;  M.  C.  Festiug,  violin- 
player  :  Dr.  Green,  composer;  B.  Gates,  singer  ;  T.  E.  Gaillard,  com- 
poser ;  Dr.  Hayes,  composer ;  W.  Jackson,  composer ;  I.  Kelway,  organist ; 
J.  Keeble  organist ;  E.  Leveridge,  publican  and  composer;  Dr.  Pepusch, 
composer  ;  Rosengrave,  organist ;  Raveuscroft,  violin-player ;  J.  Reading, 
organist;  T.  Reiuhold,  singer ;  J.  Stanley,  organist ;  J.  C.  Smith,  com- 
poser; Weidemann,  flutist;  Dr.  Worgen,  composer;  Vincent,  haut- 
boy," etc.  t  Page  29. 


BENEVOLENCE.  386 

the  very  brink  of  ruin.  lie  performed  Acis  and  Galatea 
(1740),  for  the  benefit  of  the  Musical  Fund;  the  next 
year  he  gave  them  his  epithalamium,  called  Parnasso  bi 
Festa^  and  further  extended  his  kindness  by  a  legacy  of 
one  thousand  pounds." 

We  recognize  the  active  benevolence  of  Handel  less 
by  these  public  benefits,  than  by  the  care  with  which  he 
composed  for  each  occasion  something  new  to  add  to  the 
attractions  of  the  performance.  Thus,  in  1739,  Alexan- 
der^s  Feast  was  given  for  the  Musical  Fund,  "  with  sev- 
eral concertos  on  the  organ,  particularly  a  new  one 
composed  by  Mr.  Handel  on  purpose  for  this  occasion."* 
The  performance  of  Acis^  in  1740,  took  place  "with  his 
own  performance  of  two  new  concertos."  One  of  the 
hautboy  concertos  is  called  "  Orchestra  Concerto,"  be- 
cause the  author  composed  it  expressly  for  a  performance 
of  Amadls,  given  in  favor  of  the  orchestra  of  the  thea- 
ter: '''- Amadis^  etc.^  to  which  will  be  added  two  new 
symphonies."! 

The  noble  use  which  he  constantly  made  of  The  3Ies- 
siah,  and  all  that  he  sacrificed  for  the  Foundhng  Hos- 
pital, has  been  already  described.  The  zeal  with  which 
he  supported  that  admirable  institution  procm-ed  for  him 
the  honor  of  being  named  a  member  of  the  committee 
of  direction  ;  "  and,"  says  Mainwaring,|  "  many  who  at 
the  first  had  been  contented  with  barely  approving  the 
design,  were  afterward  warmly  engaged  in  promoting  it, 
so  that  it  may  be  truly  affirmed,  that  one  of  the  noblest 
and  most  extensive  charities  in  some  degree  owes  its 
continuance  as  well  as  prosperity  to  the  patronage  of 
Handel."  His  bust,  by  Roubiliac,  and  his  portrait  (or 
rather  a  portrait  bearing  his  name)  are  still  in  the  recep- 
tion-hall among  the  benefactors  of  the  institution. 

In  the  Anecdotes  of  IIandel%  we  are  told  that  "  his 

*  Daily  Post,  20tb  March,  1739.        t  TJieaU-ical  Register,  June,  1716. 
X  Page  136.  §  Page  29. 

17 


386  LIFE     OF    HANDEL. 

cliarity  was  by  no  means  restricted  to  tlie  public  dona- 
tions ;  he  was  equally  attentive  to  the  claims  of  friend- 
ship, aifection,  and  gratitude.  The  widow  of  his  master, 
Zackau,  being  old  and  poor,  received  from  him  frequent 
remittances."  In  Handel  there  is  a  man  to  love  as  much 
as  an  artist  to  be  admired. 

Nevertheless,  it  must  be  admitted  that  he  was  imperi- 
ous, jealous  of  his  musical  pre-eminence,  and  impatient 
of  all  rivalry.  One  day  he  said  of  Gluck  (who  was  then, 
it  is  true,  only  beginning),  that  "  he  knows  no  more  of 
counterpoint  as  mein  cook ;"  but  he  said  it  openly,  with 
his  usual  hrusquerie.  With  him  there  was  no  treachery, 
no  little  scheme.  In  all  the  struggles  of  his  life,  he 
played  fairly.  His  pride  did  not  degenerate  into  vanity; 
he  did  not  even  share  the  foible  of  those  who  hold  a  pen, 
a  graver,  a  chisel,  or  a  pencil :  he  disdained  to  speak  or 
give  occasion  for  talk  about  himself  Mattheson,  when 
he  prepared  his  Musical  Tr'mmphal  Arch,  wrote  to  him 
in  1735  for  notes  on  his  life,  sending  him  a  work  at  the 
same  time ;  to  w^hich  he  returned  an  answer,  which 
Mattheson  gives  in  the  French  text,*  for  it  appears  that 
the  two  old  friends  corresponded  in  that  language  : 

"  A  LoNDRES  ce  29  de  Juillet,  1735. 

"  Monsieur, — II  y  a  quelque  tems  que  j'ai  regu  une 
de  vos  obligeantes  lettres ;  mais  a  present  je  viens  de 
recevoir  votre  derniere  avec  votre  ouvrage. 

"  Je  vous  en  remercie,  monsieur,  et  je  vous  asseure 
que  j'ai  toute  I'estime  pour  votre  merite,  je  souhaiterois 
seulement  que  mes  circonstances  m'etaient  plus  favor- 
ables  pour  vous  donner  des  marques  de  mon  inclination 
a  vous  servir.  L'ouvrage  est  digne  de  I'attention  des 
connoisseurs,  et  quand  a  moi,  je  vous  rends  justice. 

"  Au  reste,  pour  rammasser  quelque  epoque,  il  m'est 
impossible  puisqu'une  continuelle  aj)plication  au  service 

*  Page  97. 


ELEVATION    01*    MIND.  387 

de  cette  cour  et  noblesse  me  detourne  de  toute  autre 
affaire. 

"  Je  suis,  avec  une  consideration  tres  parfaite,  etc."* 

"  Such  a  reason,"  adds  Mattheson,  "  could  not  be  an 
excuse  in  1739,  when  the  court,  the  nobility,  and,  in 
truth,  the  whole  English  nation,  was  much  more  atten- 
tive to  a  ruinous  Avar  than  to  music.  I  reiterated  my 
request  frequently,  urging  it  much,  but  always  in  vain." 

That  which  above  all  distinguislied  Handel  as  a  man, 
was  the  rare  elevation  of  his  mind.  We  do  not  admire 
him  only  for  his  genius,  we  love  and  honor  him  also  for 
a  sense  of  honor  from  which  no  critical  circumstance 
could  ever  cause  him  to  swerve.  His  conscience  was  se- 
vere, and  he  was  always  remarkable  (to  quote  an  expres- 
sion of  St.  Simon)  for  "  une  grand  nettete  de  mains" 
(the  cleanliness  of  his  hands).  Every  one  praises  his  in- 
tegrity, which  was  equal  to  his  talents.  He  hated  the 
lightest  chains,  even  those  which  were  the  most  gilt. 
At  an  age  when  artists  used  to  live  in  a  sort  of  domes- 
ticity with  the  rich  and  powerful,  he  refused  to  be  the 
dependant  of  any  one,  and  preserved  his  dignity  with  a 
jealous  care.  The  only  exception  to  that  rule  which  can 
be  found  in  his  life,  was  the  eighteen  months  or  two 
)^ears  spent  with  Lord  Burlington  when  he  arrived  in 
England ;  but  we  must  believe  that  he  was  there  as  a 
guest,  since,  in  addition  to  all  the  operas  which  he  was 
producing,  he  enjoyed  already  a  pension  of  £200  a  year 

*  "London,  29tli  of  Jaly,  1735. 

"  Sir — It  is  some  time  since  I  received  one  of  your  obliging  letters  ; 
but  at  present  I  have  received  your  last,  accompanied  by  your  work. 

"  I  thank  you,  sir,  and  I  assure  you  that  I  have  the  greatest  esteem  for 
your  merit.  I  only  wish  that  my  circumstances  enabled  me  better  to 
give  you  some  proof  of  my  inclination  to  serve  you.  The  work  deserves 
the  attention  of  connoisseurs,  and  I  give  you  all  credit  for  it. 

"  For  the  rest,  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  give  you  the  personal  infor- 
mation which  you  require,  since  a  continual  application  to  the  service  of 
this  court  and  nobility  prevents  me  from  engaging  in  any  other  affair. 
"  I  am,  with  the  most  perfect  consideration,  etc." 


388  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

from  Queen  Anne,  and  £400  which  he  received  for  his 
lessons  upon  the  harpsichord  to  the  princesses  of  the 
royal  family.  The  reader  will  recall  to  mind  that  at 
Hamburg,  when  scarcely  twenty  years  of  age,  when  poor 
and  very  desirous  of  visiting  Italy,  he  refused  to  accom- 
pany the  Duke  of  Tuscany,  who  offered  to  take  him 
with  him. 

In  order  to  appreciate  here  the  just  value  of  Handel's 
conduct,  we  ought  not  to  judge  it  by  itself  apart,  but 
relatively  to  the  ideas  of  his  epoch.  It  is  scarcely  credi- 
ble at  the  present  day  what  a  miserable  place  ev-en  the 
greatest  musicians  then  occupied  in  society.  Haydn  had 
already  produced  his  first  four  symphonies,  when,  in 
1759,  Friedberg,  the  conductor  of  the  orchestra  for  the 
Prince  Esterhazy,  employed  him  to  compose  one  to  be 
played  at  Eisenstadt,  the  residence  of  the  prince.  "  When 
the  day  of  the  performance  was  arrived,  the  symphony- 
commenced,  but  in  the  middle  of  the  first  allegro,  the 
prince  interrupted  it,  by  asking  wdio  was  the  author  of 
so  fine  a  thing."  "  Haydn,"  replied  Friedberg,  present- 
ing him  to  the  prince,  who  cried — "  What !  such  music  by- 
such  a  nigger  !"  (Haydn's  complexion  gave  some  foun- 
dation for  such  an  exclamation.)  "Well,  nigger,  hence- 
forth you  are  in  my  service.  What  is  your  name  ?" 
"  Joseph  Haydn."  "  Go  and  dress  yourself  as  a  chapel- 
master.  I  don't  like  to  see  you  so.  You  are  too  little, 
and  your  face  is  insignificant.  Get  a  new  coat,  a  curled 
wig,  bands,  and  red  heels ;  but  let  them  be  high,  that 
the  stature  may  correspond  with  your  merit.  Do  you 
understand  ?  Go,  and  every  thing  \vill  be  given  you." 
Next  morning  he  appeared  at  the  levee  of  his  highness, 
dressed  up  in  the  grave  costume  which  had  been  assigned 
to  him.* 

Twenty  years  later,  Mozart,  the  divine  Mozart,  then 
organist  to  the  Archbishop  of  Salzburg,  was  sent  to  eat 
with  servants  and  the  cooks  of  "  his  prince."  He  felt 
*  Biographic  des  Mtisiciens^  article  "  Haydu." 


MOZART    AT    TABLE    WITH    VALETS.  389 

all  the  liumiliation  of  that  unworthy  treatment,  but  ho 
thought  that  he  was  obliged  to  tolerate  it.  A  letter  by 
him  to  his  father  leaves  no  doubt  as  to  the  authenticity 
of  the  flict : 

"Vienna,  It  March,  1781. 

"****!  have  a  delightful  apartment  in  the 
same  house  in  which  the  archbishop  dwells.  Brunetti 
and  Ceccarelli  lodge  in  another  house.  Che  dlstinzione! 
My  neighbor,  Herr  von  Kleinmayern,  loads  me  with 
civilities,  and  is  really  a  very  charming  person.  Dinner 
was  served  at  half-past  eleven  in  the  forenoon,  which  was 
for  me,  unfortunately,  rather  too  early ;  and  there  sat 
down  to  it  the  two  valets  in  attendance,  the  controller, 
Herr  Zetti,  the  confectioner,  two  cooks,  Ceccarelli,  Bru- 
netti, and  my  littleness.  The  two  valets  sat  at  the  head 
of  the  table,  and  I  had  the  honor  to  be  placed,  at  least, 
above  the  cooks.  Now,  methought,  I  am  again  at  Salz- 
bourg.  Daring  dinner  there  was  a  great  deal  of  coarse, 
silly  joking;  not  with  me,  however,  for  I  did  not  speak 
a  word,  unless  absolutely  obliged,  and  then  it  was  always 
with  the  greatest  seriousness.  So,  when  I  had  finished 
dinner,  I  went  my  way." 

Eight  days  afterward,  in  another  letter,  Mozart,  who 
was  excessively  hurt,  made  another  reference  to  the 
cooks  :  "What  you  tell  me  concerning  tlie  Archbishop's 
vanity  in  possessing  me  may  be  true  enough,  but  what 
is  the  use  to  me  ?  One  does  not  live  by  this.  And  then, 
with  what  distinction  am  I  treated?  M.  von  Kleinmay- 
ern, Boenecke,  and  the  illustrious  Count  Arco,  have  a 
table  to  themselves ;  now,  it  would  seem  some  distinc- 
tion if  I  were  at  this  table — but  not  with  the  valets,  who, 
besides  taking  the  head  of  the  table,  light  the  lustres, 
open  the  doors,  and  attend  in  ante-rooms."* 

Since  Haydn  and  Mozart  were  so  treated  in  the  very 
flower  of  their  genius,  without  daring  to  resent  it,  Han- 
*   The  Life  of  Mozart,  by  E.  Holmes,  pp.  185-6. 


390  LIFE    OF    HANDEL. 

del  must  have  had  a  lofty  spirit  to  hold  himself  as  he 
always  did.  These  are  the  terms  with  which,  in  1721, 
he  dedicated  to  George  the  First  his  opera  of  Hadamisto : 

"  Sir — The  protection  which  your  majesty  has  been 
graciously  pleased  to  allow  both  to  the  art  of  musick  in 
general,  and  to  one  of  the  lowest,  though  not  the  least 
dutiful  of  your  majesty's  servants,  has  emboldened  me 
to  present  to  your  majesty,  with  all  due  humility  and 
respect,  this  my  first  essay  to  that  design.  I  have  been 
still  the  more  encouraged  to  this,  by  the  particular  ap- 
probation your  majesty  has  been  pleased  to  give  to  the 
musick  of  this  Drama^  which,  may  I  be  permitted  to  say, 
I  value  not  so  much  as  it  is  the  judgment  of  a  great  mon- 
arch, as  one  of  a  most  refined  taste  in  the  art.  My  en- 
deavors to  improve  which  is  the  only  merit  that  can  be 
pretended  by  me,  except  that  of  being  with  the  utmost 
humility,  sir,  your  majesty's  most  devoted,  most  obedi- 
ent, and  most  faithful  subject  and  servant, 

"Geoege  Fkideric  Handel." 

All  this  is,  doubless,  rather  too  respectful ;  but  when  we 
remember  the  revolting  baseness  with  which  tlie  docu- 
ments of  this  kind,  which  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth 
centuries  have  left  us,  were  generally  composed,  we  can 
not  fail  to  perceive  a  certain  tone  of  reserve,  which  is  not 
to  be  found  anywhere  else.  To  judge  the  better  of  this, 
let  us  see,  for  example,  how  Haym,  in  1723,  dedicated 
his  poem  of  the  opera  of  Giulio  Ccesare  to  the  Princess 
of  Wales,  the  daughter-in-law  of  George  the  First: 
"  Ogni  madre  gode  d'aver  figliuoli  per  accrescere  il  nu- 
mero  di  suoi  devoti,  ed  ognuno  prega  il  cielo  per  la  sua 
prosperita  e  conservazione.  Testimonii  ne  sono  quel  nu- 
merosi  applausi  che  si  odono  a  ogni  quale  volta  ella  se  fa 
vedere  in  publico,  et  la  Britannia  semberebbe  ancor 
troppo  angosta  nelle  lo<ii  dovutele  se  non  unisse  con  essa 
il  mondo  tutto.     Anch'io  nell'   universal!  acclamazioni, 


HANDEL'S     SPIRIT     OF     INDEPENDENCE.       391 

non  ho  potiito  negare  a  me  stesso  I'onore  di  inchinarmi 
all'  A.  V.  R.,  con  uno  dono  che  benclie  tcnuc,  non  le  sara 
forse  discaro  per  essere  nn  drama  destinato  al  noLilo  di- 
vertimento della  casa  reale."*     *     *     * 

If  we  remember  that  this  was  then  the  usual  tone  of 
dedications,  it  will  be  admitted  that  it  would  have  been 
difficult  for  Handel  to  say  less  than  he  did  in  his.  It  is  to 
be  observed,  moreover,  that,  with  the  exception  oi  Rad- 
amisto^  and  contrary  to  the  universal  custom,  he  did  not 
dedicate  his  works  to  any  potentate  upon  the  earth.  He 
begged  for  patronage  from  no  one.  That  respect  for 
himself  from  which  he  never  departed,  gives  him  a  spe- 
cial position,  apart  from  all,  among  artists  and  poets. 
Overcoming  every  obstacle  by  an  inexhaustible  energy, 
caring  little  for  that  world  which  tyrannizes  so  over  the 
vulgar,  he  was  all  his  life  the  same  child  of  seven  years  old 
who  went  to  Weisenfelds  in  spite  of  the  resistance  and 
scolding  of  his  father.  Being  informed  at  Aix-la-Chnpelle 
(where  he  was  taking  the  baths)  that  the  King  of  Prussia 
was  coming,  and  wished  to  see  him,  he  left  the  place  a 
few  days  before  the  arrival  of  the  disappointed  monarch. f 
Twenty  years  after  Handel  conducted  himself  thus  with 
kings,  Haydn  permitted  an  Hungarian  magnate  to  say  to 
him,  "  Go  and  dress  yourself  like  a  chapel-master." 

This  spirit  of  independence  was  one  of  the  causes  of 
the  animosity  which  the  English  aristocracy  entertained 
against  him.    At  that  time  they  were  so  destitute  of  good 

*  "  Every  mother  is  rejoiced  at  having  children  to  augment  the  num- 
ber of  persons  devoted  to  your  royal  highness,  and  every  one  implores 
heaven  for  your  prosperity  and  your  preservation.  Of  this  there  are 
proofs  in  the  universal  plaudits  which  accompany  your  royal  highness 
whenever  you  rejoice  the  eyes  of  the  public  with  your  royal  presence. 
And  as  if  England  were  too  narrow  to  celebrate  your  praise,  the  whole 
world  joins  with  her  in  a  homage  which  is  justly  your  due.  In  the  midst 
of  these  universal  acclamations,  I  can  not  deny  myself  the  honor  of  in- 
clining before  your  royal  highness,  and  respectfully  offering  you  a  trib- 
ute wliich,  however  small,  will  perliaps  be  acceptable  to  you,  as  a  drama 
nobly  destined  to  divert  a  royal  house." 

t  Anecdotes  of  Randel,  p.  27. 


392  LIFE    OF    HANDEL. 

sense  and  intelligence  as  not  to  perceive  that  all  men  are 
equals,  when  they  do  not  abase  themselves  by  dishonor- 
able actions,  or  by  the  adoption  of  degrading  profession, 
and  they  taxed  with  insolence  the  dignity  of  the  noble 
artist.  During  long  years  he  showed  a  bold  front  to  the 
implacable  war  which  they  declared  against  him,  and 
although  twice  routed  he  was  never  subdued.  He  never 
surrendered,  and,  thanks  to  his  perseverance,  he  gave  his 
enemies  time  to  triumph  over  their  own  prejudices.  He 
had  the  inflexibility  of  all  great  minds.  He  was  a  true 
hero — a  moral  hero.  Even  the  coolness  with  which  his 
masterpieces  were  received  did  not  discourage  him.  He 
was  the  lirst  to  console  his  friends  for  his  defeats.  Burney 
heard  him  reply  intrepidly  to  some  one  who  was  express- 
ing his  regret  at  seeing  the  house  so  empty:  "Nevre 
moind,  de  music  vil  sount  de  petter."  Vexation  at  de- 
feat, ruin,  bankruptcy,  and  all  the  sorrows  which  they 
bring  upon  a  man  so  proud  as  he  was,  could  not  weigh 
him  down  :  he  recommenced  again  and  again,  and,  by 
dint  of  activity,  energy,  genius,  and  courage,  he  finished 
by  conquering  Fortune. 

The  natural  predilections  which  you  take  for  the  man 
whose  life  you  are  writing,  when  the  task  is  a  pleasant 
one,  does  not  lead  me  so  far  as  to  make  of  Handel  a  fan- 
ciful personage.  I  show  him  really  as  he  was,  and  as  he 
is  painted  by  every  author.  Main  waring  says:*  "This 
noble  spirit  of  independence,  which  possessed  Handel 
almost  from  his  childhood,  was  never  known  to  forsake 
him,  not  even  in  the  most  distressing  seasons  of  life.  No 
prosj^ects  of  advantage  could  tempt  him  to  court  those 
by  whom  he  thought  he  had  been  injured  or  oppressed." 

The  London  Chronicle  of  the  12th  of  June,  1760, 
thus  sums  up  a  biographical  article  upon  him:  "Such 
was  Handel,  in  whose  character,  whatever  was  wrong, 
there  was  nothing  mean.  Though  he  was  proud,  his 
pride  was  uniform ;  he  was  not  by  turns  a  tyrant  and  a 
*  rage  41 . 


HIS     PERSEVERANCE.  393 

sliive,  a  censor  in  one  j^lace  and  a  sycophant  in  another; 
lie  maintained  his  Hberty  in  a  state  in  which  others  would 
have  been  vain  of  dependence  :  he  was  liberal  even  when 
he  was  poor,  and  remembered  his  former  friends  when 
he  was  rich." 

In  the  Anecdotes  of  Handel^  we  are  told  that  "he 
was  tenacious  on  all  points  which  regarded  his  profes- 
sional honor.  His  aversion  to  subscription  engagements 
and  the  resolute  inflexibility  of  his  temper  prevented 
the  accession  of  some  friends  and  alienated  others.  With 
conscious  pride,  he  was  unwilling  to  be  .indebted  but  to 
his  own  abilities  for  his  advancement." 

The  Gentleman'' s  Magazine  for  1760,  which,  in  refer- 
ring to  the  disputes  of  1733  and  the  following  years, 
necessarily  took  the  part  of  the  gentlemen,  expresses 
itself  thus ;  "  Nothing  was  wanted  to  recover  his  affairs 
but  such  concessions,  on  his  part,  as  his  opponents  had  a 
right  to  expect.  These  concessions,  however,  his  temper 
would  not  suffer  him  to  make." 

Hawkins  observes,  upon  the  same  subject  :f  "  Such  as 
are  not  acquainted  with  the  personal  character  of  Handel, 
will  wonder  at  his  seeming  temerity  in  continuing  so 
long  an  opposition  which  tended  but  to  impoverish  him ; 
but  he  was  a  man  of  a  firm  and  intrepid  spirit,  no  way  a 
slave  to  the  passion  of  avarice,  and  would  have  gone 
greater  lengths  than  he  did  rather  than  submit  to  those 
whom  he  had  ever  looked  on  as  his  inferiors." 

Busby,  in  referring  to  the  same  period,  says : — "  In 
this  arduous  situation,  which  lasted  near  eleven  years, 
he  fought  manfully ;  he  displayed  great  superiority  and 
force  of  mind.  He  did  not  condescend  to  conciliate  fa- 
vor by  degrading  concession,  or  to  reduce  the  expense 
by  engaging  inferior  performers,  or  diminishing  the  sal- 
aries of  those  of  whom  he  employed." 

Even  his  adversaries  have  thus  represented  him.  "We 
have  seen  that  Goupy,  in  the  caricature  of  The  Charming 

*  Page  27.  t  Page  878. 


394  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

Brute^  makes  him  trampling  under  foot  a  scroll,  upon 
which  is  written — Pension^  Benefit.,  Nohility^  and  Friend- 
ship. The  satirist  paid  him  the  greatest  compliment  in 
thus  attempting  to  insult  him;  for  it  is  a  noble  thing 
to  despise  pensions,  benefits,  and  power,  in  order  to  pre- 
serve the  independence  of  the  mind.  As  for  the  word 
"friendship,"  we  can  only  suppose  that  it  was  a  re- 
proach against  Handel,  on  the  part  of  Goupy,  for  having 
disregarded  his;  but  the  caricature  itself  proves  that  the 
musician,  transformed  into  a  gluttonous  beast,  made  no 
very  great  mistake  as  to  the  value  of  the  painter's  friend- 
ship. 

Handel's  pride  was  intimately  connected  with  the  re- 
spect in  which  he  held  his  profession.  He  was  a  socialist 
by  anticipation.  He  knew  that  the  Beautiful  has  a  moral 
mission,  and  regarded  artists  as  fulfilling  a  priesthood. 
"  Some  days  after  the  first  exhibition  of  the  divine  ora- 
torio The  Messiah  (at  London),  Handel  came  to  pay  his 
respects  to  Lord  Kinnoull,  with  w^iom  he  was  particu- 
larly acquainted.  His  lordship,  as  was  natural,  paid  him 
some  compliments  on  the  noble  entertainment  which  he 
had  lately  given  the  town.  '  My  lord,'  said  Handel,  '  T 
should  be  sorry  if  I  only  entertained  them,  I  wish  to 
make  them  better.'  "  Dr.  Beattie,  in  relating  this  anec- 
dote,* declares  that  it  was  communicated  to  him  by  Lord 
Kinnoull  himself.  It  may  be  imagined  that  an  artist  who 
was  imbued  with  such  ideas,  would  frequently  find  him- 
self in  opposition  to  an  age  which  treated  musicians  as 
mere  instruments  of  pleasure. 

But  there  is  unhappily  a  great  defect  to  be  set  against 
the  noble  qualities  of  Handel.  He  was  of  an  excessively 
violent  character.  For  tlie  slightest  reasons  he  became 
fearfully  enraged.  One  day.  Dr.  Morell  represented  to 
him  that  the  music  of  an  air  did  not  exactly  render  the 
sense  of  the  words  ;  whereupon  Handel  instantly  flew  into 
a  most  foolish  passion,  and  cried  out,  with  the  anger  of 
*  Vol.  ii.  of  liis  Letleri^,  page  77. 


VIOLENCE    OF    HIS    TEMPER.  395 

insulted  pride,  "  Vat,  you  teach  me  music !  De  music, 
sir,  ish  good  music.  It  is  your  words  ish  bad.  Hear  de 
passage  again,"  repeating  it  vehemently  on  the  hai-psi- 
ohord.  "  Dere ;  go  you,  make  vords  to  dat  music." 
The  doctor  escaped  as  soon  as  he  could,  for  tliere  is  no 
reasoning  with  a  whirlwind.  Many  other  examples  of 
these  ebulhtions  of  temper  are  quoted,  and  they  are  all 
quite  as  unreasonable ;  but  they  subsided  as  quickly  as 
they  came.  It  was  wholly  a  matter  of  temperament, 
and  never  caused  liarm  to  any  one.  In  the  Anecdotes  of 
Handel^  we  are  told  tliat  "  he  was  irascible  but  not  vin- 
dictive," and  he  afterward  repaired  his  fault  with  tlie 
greatest  frankness. 

One  evening,  in  1748,  at  the  house  of  Sig^.  Frasi, 
whither  he  had  brought  a  duet  of  Judas  Maccahceus^  he 
was  accompanying  the  songstress  and  Burney,  who  made 
out  the  music  as  well  as  they  could,  when  suddenly,  at  a 
certain  passage,  Handel  flew  into  a  rage,  and  scolded 
Burney  soundly.  The  latter,  who  was  then  very  young, 
and  an  earnest  admirer  of  the  great  man,  was  terrified ;  but 
nevertheless,  in  the  midst  of  tlie  tempest,  he  ventured  to 
suggest  that  there  might  be  some  error  in  the  MS.  copy. 
Whereupon  Handel,  still  violently  enraged,  looked  at  it, 
"  and  then  instantly,  with  the  greatest  good  humor  and 
humility,  said,  '  I  peg  your  barton,  I  am  a  very  odd  toe ; 
Maishter  Schmitt  is  to  plame.'  "*  Burney,  who  amuses 
himself  with  preserving  that  German  accent,  which  Han- 
del appears  never  to  have  lost,  relates  another  anecdote 
of  this  suddenness  of  temper.f  Carestini,  who  was, 
nevertheless,  a  good  musician,  took  it  into  his  head  to 
send  back  the  air  in  Alci?ia,  "  Verdi  prati,"  as  not  suited 
to  him.  On  receiving  this  message,  Handel  became  furi- 
ous, ran  to  the  house  of  the  artist,  and  accosted  him 
thus  :  "  You  toe !  don't  I  know  petter  as  your  seluf  voat 
cs  pest  for  you  to  sing?     If  you  will  not  sing  all  de  song 

*  Comimrnoration,  page  35.  t  Und^  page  *24. 


396  LIFE    OF     HANDEL. 

voat  I  give  yon,  I  will  not  pay  you  ein  stiver."*  If  Ca- 
restini  bad  taken  oifense,  Handel  would  have  been  com- 
pelled to  close  his  theater ;  but  to  see  "  Verdi  prati," 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  things  in  the  world,  sent  back, 
was,  it  must  be  confessed,  a  provocation  likely  to  excite 
the  bile  of  a  man  more  enduring  than  Handel. 

As  for  the  grossness  of  his  language,  and  the  oaths 
with  which  he  seasoned  it,  however  blamable  they  may 
have  been,  we  ought  not  to  judge  them  too  severely. 
Men  and  their  manners  must  be  considered  according  to 
their  epoch  ;  and  the  epoch  in  which  Handel  lived  was 
fearfully  gross.  In  reading  its  literature,  one  is  disgusted 
at  the  vulgarisms,  the  shamelessness,  and  often  the  ob- 
scenity that  we  find  there.  You  could  not  say  in  the 
present  day,  even  in  familiar  conversation,  what  Dryden 
caused  to  be  spoken  before  a  whole  theater-full  of  people. 
After  having  searched  through  the  Gentlemmi's  Maga- 
zine^ from  1730  to  1740,  a  publication  which  was  cer- 
tainly in  all  hands,  and  open  upon  all  tables,  I  declare 
that  the  epigraph,  "  La  mere  en  permettra  la  lecture  a 
sa  fille"  {The  mother  looidd  permit  her  daughter  to  read 
it),  is  not  applicable  to  them.  Many  mothers  eveuAvould 
not  permit  themselves  to  read  such  things.  Women  must 
then  have  listened  to  things  which  the  most  ill-bred  of 
our  modern  young  men  would  not  utter.  Their  pres- 
ence was  no  restraint  on  the  detestable  custom  which  all 
the  men  had  of  swearing.  One  day,  in  the  presence  of 
Queen  Caroline,  the  wife  of  George  the  Second,  and  be- 
fore the  Duke  of  Grafton,  reference  was  made  to  the 
supposition  that  she  had  not  been  insensible  to  the  atten- 
tions of  a  certain  German  prince.  "G — d,  madam," 
said  the  duke,  in  the  fashionable  blasphemous  style  of 

*  Althongli  I  see  uo  reason  to  accuse  Buruey  of  having  ftibricated  this 
story,  I  suspect  him,  however,  of  having  Germanized  the  form,  in  order 
to  render  it  niorc  anuising.  Carestini,  who  had  then  lately  arrived  in 
London,  was  probably  not  perfect  in  his  English,  and  Handel,  who  spoke 
Ituhan  very  Avell,  and  was  doubtless  anxious  to  be  understood,  was  not 
likely  to  selcot  liis  Anglo-Gennan  jargon  to  apostrophize  hira  in. 


VIOLENT    EXIIIHITIONS.  397 

the  period,  "  G — d,  madam,  I  should  like  to  see  the  man 
you  could  love !"  "  See  him,"  said  the  queen,  laugh- 
ingly, "  do  you  not  then  think  that  I  love  the  king  ?" 
"  G — d,  madam,  I  only  wish  I  were  king  of  France,  and 
I  would  soon  be  sure  whether  you  did  or  not."*  When 
the  most  fashionable  dukes  spoke  thus  to  a  lady,  when 
the  Queen  of  England  had  such  subjects  of  conversation, 
and  when  such  language  could  be  held  to  her  upon  such 
a  subject,  the  "  toes"  and  "  derteiffels"  of  Handel  seem 
less  inexcusable,  and  we  perceive  indeed  that  the  nine- 
teenth century  has  at  least  gained  in  decency. 

Only  one  of  Handel's  violent  exhibitions  of  temper 
nearly  ended  tragically.  At  a  rehearsal  of  Otho^  Sig*. 
Cuzzoni  declared  that  she  would  not  sing  the  air  "Falsa 
imagine,"  in  which  she  afterward  had  a  very  great  suc- 
cess. The  ruling  spirit  of  the  great  man  had  already 
been  irritated  by  some  symptoms  of  insubordination,  and 
this  declaration  carried  him  quite  beyond  bounds.  He 
flew  at  the  rebel,  saying,  "  I  always  knew  you  were  a 
very  devil,  but  I  shall  now  let  you  know  that  I  am  Bel- 
zebub,  the  prince  of  the  devils ;"  and  seizing  her  with 
one  hand,  he  ran  to  the  window  and  swore  that  if  she 
did  not  sing  the  air  immediately  he  w^ould  throw  her  into 
the  street.     She  was  afraid,  and  sang  it  forth with.f 

The  terrible  Saxon  could  never  overcome  the  impetu- 
osity of  his  temper,  which  did  not  permit  him  to  make 
allowances  for  any  body.  At  the  concerts  which  he  con- 
ducted for  Frederic,  Prince  of  Wales,  if  the  prince  and 
his  wdfe  were  not  punctual  to  the  stated  time,  we  are 
told  that  the  conductor  "used  to  be  very  violent;"  and 
the  son  of  George  the  Second,  to  his  great  honor  be  it 
said,  respected  him  too  much  to  be  offended.  If  the  la- 
dies of  the  princess  talked  instead  of  listening,  "  his  rage 
was  uncontrollable,  and  sometimes  carried  him  to  the 
length  of  swearing  and  calling  names,  even  in  the  pres- 

*  Lives  of  the  Queens  of  England  of  tlie  Houseqf  Eanover^  vol.  i.,  p.  338. 
+  Gorrumemoration,  page  *24. 


398  LIFE    OF    HANDEL. 

ence  of  royalty ;"  whereupon  the  gentle  princess,  who 
loved  him  much,  would  say  to  the  talkative  ones^  "Hush! 
hush !  Handel  is  in  a  passion."* 

Busbyt  relates  a  scene  of  violence  w  hich,  by  its  excess, 
is  even  comic : — "  Handel,  as  is  well  known,  had  such  a 
remarkable  irritability  of  nerves  that  he  could  not  bear 
to  hear  the  tuning  of  instruments,  and  therefore  this  was 
always  done  before  he  arrived  at  the  theater.  A  mu- 
sical wag,  determined  to  extract  some  mirth  from  his 
irascibility  of  temper,  stole  into  the  orchestra  one  night 
when  the  Prince  of  Wales  was  to  be  present,  and  un- 
tuned all  the  instruments.  As  soon  as  the  prince  arrived, 
Handel  gave  the  signal  to  begin,  con  spirito^  but  such 
was  the  horrible  discord,  that  the  enraged  musician 
started  up  from  his  seat,  and,  having  overturned  a 
double  bass  which  stood  in  his  way,  he  seized  a  kettle- 
drum, which  he  threw  with  such  violence  at  the  leader 
of  the  band,  that  he  lost  his  full-bottomed  wig  in  the  ef- 
fort. Without  waiting  to  replace  it,  he  advanced,  bare- 
headed, to  the  front  of  the  orchestra,  breathing  ven- 
geance, but  so  choked  with  passion  that  utterance  was 
denied  him.  In  this  ridiculous  attitude  he  stood,  staring 
and  stamping,  for  some  moments,  amid  the  general  con- 
vulsion of  laughter ;  nor  could  he  be  prevailed  upon  to 
resume  his  seat,  until  the  prince  went  in  person,  and  with 
much  difficulty  appeased  his  wrath." 

It  is  easy  to  imagine  that  this  heat  of  the  blood  must 
have  generally  broke  forth  when  he  was  in  the  exercise 
of  his  art.  The  musicians  in  the  orchestra  used  to  prog- 
nosticate the  state  of  his  temper  by  a  sign  which  shows 
how  extremely  impressionable  he  was.  "  Handel  wore," 
says  Burney,  "  an  enormous  white  wig,  and,  when  things 
went  well  at  the  oratorio,  it  had  a  certain  nod  or  vibra- 
tion, which  manifested  his  pleasure  and  satisfaction. 
Without  it,  nice  observers  were  certain  that  he  was  out 
of  humor." 

*  Gommejnovatlon,  page  36.  t  Concert  Room,  vol.  ii. 


RAPIDITY     OF    COMPOSITION.  399 

Whatever  touched  his  musical  sense  excited  him  Hke 
the  Pythoness  upon  lier  tripod.  At  tlie  conductor's 
desk  he  used  to  warn  the  chorus  by  calling  out  "  cho- 
rus ;"  and  the  three  cotemporary  biographers  concur  in 
saying  that  his  voice,  when  he  uttered  that  word,  was 
" most  formidable."  Miss  Hawkins,  in  her  Anecdotes* 
relates  of  him  a  circumstance,  "  which  the  Dean  of 
Raphoe  (Dr.  Allot),  who  remembers  him,  lives  to  tell : 
that  Handel,  being  questioned  as  to  his  ideas  and  feel- 
ings when  composing  the  Allelujah  chorus,  replied,  in 
his  imperfect  English,  '  I  did  think  I  did  see  all  heaven 
before  me,  and  the  great  God  himself.'  " 

When  he  was  composing,  his  excitement  would  rise  to 
such  a  pitch  that  he  would  burst  into  tears  : — "It  is  said, 
that  a  friend  calling  upon  the  great  musician  when  in  the 
act  of  setting  these  pathetic  words,  '  He  was  despised, 
and  rejected  of  men,'  found  him  absolutely  soblmigyf 

"  I  have  heard  it  related,"  says  Shield,];  "  that  when 
Handel's  servant  used  to  bring  him  his  chocolate  in  the 
morninof,  he  often  stood  with  silent  astonishment  to  see 
his  master's  tears  mixing  with  the  ink,  as  he  penned  his 
divine  notes." 

The  motion  of  his  pen,  active  as  it  was,  could  not  keep 
up  with  the  rapidity  of  his  conception.  His  MSS.  were 
written  with  such  impetuosity  that  they  are  very  diffi- 
cult to  read.  The  mechanical  power  of  the  hand  was 
not  sufficient  for  the  torrent  of  ideas  which  flowed  from 
that  volcanic  brain.  Mr.  V.  Novello,  the  learned  pub- 
lisher, who  seems  to  have  well  studied  the  MSS.  at  the 
Fitzwilliam  Museum,  seeing  a  page  on  which  the  sand  is 
still  upon  the  ink  at  the  top  as  well  as  at  the  bottom  of 
the  page,  left  in  the  book  the  following  observation  : 
"  Observe  the  speed  with  which  Handel  wrote.     The 

*  Page  199. 

t  Tliivd  volumo  of  Burgh,  who  does  not,  however,  indicate  his  au- 
thority. 

X  Introduction  to  IIarmon.y. 


400  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

AN'hole  of  this  page  is  spotted  with   sand,  and   conse- 
quently must  have  all  been  wet  at  the  same  time." 

Doubtless  we  must  attribute  to  this  mental  ardor 
Handel's  singular  habit  of  employing  three  or  four  lan- 
guages at  a  time,  in  speaking  as  well  as  in  writing.  lie 
was  a  very  impulsive  man,  and  neither  did  nor  said  the 
same  thing  twice  in  the  same  manner.  He  had  no  habits, 
and  was  certainly  one  of  the  greatest  improvisers  that 
ever  lived.  He  was  improvising,  so  to  speak,  every  mo- 
ment of  his  life.  He  had  three  or  four  different  styles 
of  handwriting.  Sometimes  his  notes  have  heads  so 
small  and  tails  so  thin,  that  they  are  more  like  fly- 
scratches  ;  sometimes  their  heads  are  as  big  as  bullets, 
with  tails  of  terrible  thickness.  His  MSS.  are  quite  lin- 
guistic curiosities,  for  they  contain  thousands  of  memo- 
randa of  which  no  two  are  alike.  One  day  they  are  in 
English,  the  next  in  German,  the  day  following  in  Ital- 
ian, and  on  another  day  in  French  ;  afterward,  in  all 
these  languages  mingled  together,  as  in  the  last  memo- 
randum to  Berenice : — "  Fine  dell'  opera  Berenice,  Janu- 
ary 18,  1738,  Ausgtifullen  ;"  and  then — "  Geendiget  den 
January  27,  173  7."  So  that  "End  of  the  opera"  is  in 
Italian,  *'  To  fill  in"  and  "  Completed"  in  German,  and 
the  dates  in  English.  In  his  orchestration,  the  instru- 
ments are  designated  in  turn  by  their  Italian,  French, 
and  English  names.  Not  only  do  these  memoranda  of- 
fer an  image  of  the  confusion  of  tongues,  but  even  their 
place  is  changed  every  day ;  to  the  right,  to  the  left,  at 
the  top,  and  at  the  bottom  of  the  page,  sometimes  be- 
fore the  date,  and  sometimes  after.  They  seem  like  a 
perpetual  defiance  given  to  human  nature,  whose  general 
disposition  it  is  to  contract  fixed  habits. 

It  is  a  strange  thing  that  this  man,  so  inflammable,  so 
accessible  to  auger,  and  the  transports  of  inspiration,  had 
nevertheless  very  moderate  tastes.  He  ate  largely,  but 
he  seems  to  have  had  an  exceptional  and  unhealthy  ap- 
petite to  satisfy.     The  following  anecdote  is  to  be  found 


niS     MODERATE    TASTES.  401 

in  that  little  chronicle  which  is  attributed  to  every  great 
man's  life.  One  day,  being  obliged  to  dine  at  a  tavern, 
he  ordered  enough  for  tliree,  and  being  impatient  at  the 
delay,  he  asked  why  they  did  not  serve  up.  "  We  will 
do  so,"  said  the  host,  "  as  soon  as  the  company  arrives." 
*'  Den  pring  up  te  tinner  prestissimo,"  replied  Handel ; 
*'  I  am  de  gombany."  A  triple  dinner  seems  a  great  deal, 
even  for  a  famishing  man,  and  it  may  be  that  the  fact 
has  been  magnified  for  the  sake  of  the  joke  ;  but  it  ap- 
pears certain  that  he  deserves  the  reproach  of  having 
been  a  gourmand^  and  too  fond  of  good  cheer.  This  is 
the  vulnerable  side  upon  which  his  adversaries  always 
attack  him,  and  upon  which  none  of  his  friends  have  at- 
tempted to  defend  him.  Yet  nobody  has  accused  him 
of  gross  intemperance.  Burney,  it  is  true,  relates  the 
following  story  :* — "  The  late  Mr.  Brown,  leader  of  his 
majesty's  band,  used  to  tell  me  several  stories  of  Han- 
del's love  of  good  cheer,  liquid  and  solid  ;  as  well  as  of 
his  impatience.  Of  the  former  he  gave  an  instance, 
which  was  accidentally  discovered  at  his  own  house  in 
Brook-street,  where  Brown,  in  the  oratorio  season,  among 
other  principal  performers,  was  at  dinner.  During  the 
repast,  Handel  often  cried  out,  '  Oh  !  I  have  de  taught ;' 
w^hen  the  company,  unwilling  that,  out  of  civility  to  them, 
the  public  should  be  robbed  of  any  thing  so  valuable  as 
his  musical  ideas,  begged  he  would  retire  and  write  them 
down ;  with  which  request,  however,  he  so  frequently 
complied,  that,  at  last,  one  of  the  most  suspicious  had 
the  ill-bred  curiosity  to  peep  through  the  key-hole  into 
the  adjoining  room,  where  he  perceived  that  '  dese 
taughts'  were  only  bestowed  on  a  fresh  hamper  of  Bur- 
gundy, which,  as  was  afterward  discovered,  he  had  re- 
ceived in  a  present  from  his  friend  the  late  Lord  Radnor, 
while  his  company  was  regaled  with  more  generous  and 
spirited  port." 

To  this  I  do  not  attach  the  slightest  credit ;  not  only 

*  Commemoration^  page  32. 


402  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

because  it  is  ignoble,  but  because  it  is  diametrically  op- 
posed to  all  that  has  been  proved  as  to  the  liberality  of 
Handel's  character ;  because  it  would  be  impossible  for 
the  master  of  a  house  to  leave  the  table  every  minute, 
under  the  pretext  of  an  idea  ;  and  because  it  is  impossi- 
ble that  a  guest  should  follow  his  host  from  table  in  or- 
der to  spy  out  his  proceedings  through  all  the  key-holes 
in  the  house.  Handel  was  so  proud  a  man,  that  he 
never  could  have  given  way  to  such  a  solitary  indul- 
gence. What  must  his  domestics  have  thought  of  him, 
if  they  had  seen  him  doing  such  a  dirty  trick  ?  The  an- 
ecdote is,  moreover,  self-contradictory,  for  Ave  know  that 
bo7i  vivants  do  not  like  to  drink  alone. 

Handel  always  lived  a  very  retired  life,  and  never  mar- 
ried. Notwithstanding  the  love  which  he  bore  toward 
his  mother,  and  his  extremely  charitable  disposition,  I 
must  confess,  not  without  regret,  that  the  sentiments  of 
affection  do  not  appear  (as-  the  disciples  of  Gall  and 
Spurzheim  would  say)  to  have  been  very  strongly  de- 
veloped. Not  one  woman  occupies  the  smallest  place  in 
the  long  career  of  his  life.  When  he  was  in  Italy,  a 
certain  lady  named  Vittoria  fell  in  love  with  him,  and 
even  followed  him  from  Florence  to  Venice.  Burney 
describes  Vittoria  as  a  songstress  of  talent.  M.  Fetis 
calls  her  "  the  Archduchess  Vittoria ;"  but  both  agree 
that  she  was  beautiful,  and  that  she  filled  the  part  of  the 
prwia  donna  in  Moclerigo^  his  first  Italian  score.*  Artist 
or  archduchess,  either  title  was  enough  to  turn  the  head 
of  a  young  man  twenty-four  years  old  ;  but  Handel  dis- 
dained her  love.  All  the  English  biographers  say  that 
he  was  too  prudent  to  accept  an  attachment  which  would 
have  been  the  ruin  of  both.  This  is  a  calumny  ;  for  he 
was  never  prudent.  The  bold  struggles  of  his  life  prove 
that  for  him.   His  refusal  is  only  explicable  on  the  ground 

*  At  that  period,  and  even  later,  it  was  not  uncommon  to  find  prin- 
ces and  princesses  singing  in  the  pieces  which  were  produced  at  their 
courts. 


HANDEL'S    LOVE    AFFAIRS.  403 

of  his  indifference.  I  do  not  urge  this  in  his  praise,  but 
I  prefer  that  defect  to  the  other. 

"  When  he  was  young,"  says  the  author  of  the  A?i€e- 
dotes  of  Ilcmdel*  "  two  of  his  scholars,  ladies  of  con- 
siderable fortune,  were  so  much  enamored  of  him, 
that  each  was  desirous  of  a  matrimonial  alliance.  The 
first  is  said  to  have  fallen  a  victim  to  her  attachment. 
Handel  would  have  married  her,  but  his  pride  was  stung 
by  the  coarse  declaration  of  her  mother,  that  she  never 
would  consent  to  the  marriaore  of  her  daucrhter  with  a 
fiddler ;  and,  indignant  at  the  exj^ression,  he  declined  all 
further  intercourse.  After  the  death  of  the  mother,  the 
father  renewed  the  acquaintance,  and  informed  him  that 
all  obstacles  were  removed,  but  he  replied  that  the  time 
was  now  past ;  and  the  young  lady  fell  into  a  decline, 
which  soon  terminated  her  existence.  The  second  at- 
tachment was  a  lady  splendidly  related,  whose  hand  he 
might  have  obtained  by  renouncing  his  profession.  That 
condition  he  resolutely  refused,  and  laudably  declined 
the  connection  which  was  to  prove  a  restriction  on  the 
great  faculties  of  his  mind." 

I  do  not  care  much  for  the  second  lady,  who  must 
have  been  a  foolish  woman  ;  but  I  can  not  forgive  Han- 
del for  deserting  his  former  love.  Nothing  in  the  world 
can  recompense  the  loss  of  a  true  love : 

"  Qu'un  ami  veritable  est  une  douce  chose ! 
II  elierche  vos  besoins  au  fond  de  votre  coeur, 
II  vous  6pargne  la  pudeur 
De  les  lui  decouvrir  vous-meme, 
Tin  songe,  un  rien  tout  lui  fait  peur, 
Quand  11  s'agit  de  ce  qu'il  aime." 

Les  Deux  Amis  (La  Fontaine). 

But  he  had  really  no  other  passion  than  that  for  music. 

During  the  earlier  part  of  his  residence  in  London,  he 

often  went  to  St.  Paul's  when  the  afternoon  service  was 

finished.    There,  surrounded  by  some  of  his  admirers,  he 

*  Page  28. 


404  LIFE    OF    HANDEL. 

delighted  them  by  playing  on  the  organ  at  that  cathedral, 
which  he  preferred  to  all  others.  Night  came,  and  then 
they  retired  to  a  neighboring  tavern,  the  Queen's  Arms, 
where  there  was  a  harpsichord,  which  he  would  play 
while  he  smoked  his  pipe  and  drank  his  beer.*  These 
were  all  his  pleasures.  Gradually,  as  he  became  more  ab- 
sorbed in  his  compositions  and  by  the  cares  of  manager- 
ship, he  broke  oif  all  relations  with  society ;  he  refused 
every  invitation,  and  only  associated  with  three  intimate 
friends — "  a  painter  named  Goupy  ;f  one  Hunter,  a  scar- 
let-dyer, who  pretended  a  taste  for  music  ;l  and  his  pupil 
and  secretary,  John  Christopher  Smith."  He  had  others 
in  the  city,  but  he  seemed  to  think  that  the  honor  of  his 
acquaintance  was  a  sufficient  reward  for  the  kindness 
they  expressed  for  him. 

Hawkins  says,  "  that  no  impertinent  visits,  and  few 
engagements  to  parties  of  pleasure,  were  suffered  to  in- 
terrupt the  course  of  his  studies.  His  invention  ever 
teeming  with  new  ideas,  and  his  impatience  to  be  deliv- 
ered of  them,  kept  him  closely  employed."  He  seldom 
left  his  house,  except  to  go  to  the  theater  or  to  some 
picture  auction.  He  was  a  connoisseur  of  pictures,  and 
l^ossessed  some  valuable  ones.  His  sole  amusement  was 
to  go  and  see  exhibitions  of  them.  Alas  !  his  blindness 
deprived  him  of  that  pleasure  a  long  time  before  his 
death. 

Musical  genius  is  certainly  much  more  fertile  than  lit- 
erary genius.§     The  very  least  composers  have  produced 

*  Hawkins. 

t  It  would  be  curious  to  know  whether  there  were  two  painters  named 
Goupy,  and  whether  this  one  was  the  caricaturist ;  for  Handel  was  not 
the  soi-t  of  man  to  be  reconciled  to  one  who  had  so  outrageously  ridiculed 
him. 

X  Hawkins,  in  relating  these  peculiarities,  says  that  Hunter,  "  at  a 
great  expense,  had  copies  made  for  him  of  all  the  music  of  Handel  that 
he  could  procure." 

§  Porpora  wrote  fifty  operas.  Barney  quotes  Sacchini  as  an  authority, 
that  Piccini  wrote  more  than  tliree  hundred,  of  which  thirteen  were 
composed  in  seven  months,  but  I  do  not  accept  the  responsibility  of  this 


FEKTILITY     OF     HIS    MUSICAL    GENIUS.      405 

a  great  deal,  and  all  the  great  ones  have  been  exceed- 
ingly fruitful.  Hand  el  was  prodigiously  so.  His  works 
number  altogether  one  hundred  and  twenty-two,  the 
greater  part  of  thera  being  of  large  proportion ;  and 
even  when  we  know  that  he  never  rested  for  an  hour, 
and  that  he  devoted  himself  exclusively  to  his  art,  we 
ask  how  it  was  that  a  single  man  could  supply  the  mate- 
rial labor  which  they  required.  His  thirty-nine  operas  - 
are  in  three  acts ;  his  twenty-one  oratorios  are  not  more 
astonishing  for  their  extent  than  for  their  excellence. 
One  feels  amazed  at  that  mountain  of  noble  things  piled 
up  by  a  single  hand,  and  especially  when  we  remember 
that  he  was  not,  like  Bach  (his  worthy  emulator),  a  sort 
of  Benedictine  monk,  working  in  the  peaceful  seclusion 
of  a  cell,  without  any  difficulties  to  contend  against.  On 
the  contrary,  circumstances,  his  activity  of  mind,  and  his 
impetuous  character  drove  him  into  the  current  of  the 
world  and  its  affairs. 

What  this  man  w^as  able  to  do  astounds  the  imagina- 
tion. Take,  for  example,  what  he  accomplished  during 
the  year  1734,  when  he  was  director  of  the  Italian  Op- 
era :  On  the  26th  of  January,  Ariadne^  an  opera  in  three 
acts;  on  the  13th  of  March,  Parnasso  in  Festa^  taken 
from  Athalia.,  but  containing  fifteen  original  pieces  ;  on 
the  18th  of  May,  a  revival  of  Pasto?-  Fido^  entirely  re- 
cast, Terpsichore^  a  ballet  intermixed  with  songs ;  the 
formation  of  a  new  company  of  singers,  and  the  organi- 
zation of  a  new  theater  ;  the  composition  of  Ariodante^ 

assertion.  SaccMni  himself  was  the  author  of  sixty-eight  operas,  serious 
and  comic.  Hasse  wrote  so  much  that  he  had  forgotten  which  were  his 
own  compositions.  Kaiser  produced  one  hundred  and  sixteen  theatrical 
pieces,  besides  oratorios  and  a  great  quantity  of  sacred  music.  The  hst 
of  Paesiello's  works  does  not  occupy  less  than  four  columns  of  Choron 
and  FayoUe's  Dictionary  of  Musicians.  The  catalogue  of  Mozart's  works 
fills  ten  octavo  pages  of  small  print  in  the  Life  of  Mozart^  by  Edward 
Holmes.  A  Neapolitan  assured  the  biographer  Quartz,  that  he  possessed 
four  hundred  pieces  of  Scarlatti's  compositions.  The  catalogne  of 
Ha}  dn's  works  includes  eight  hundred  pieces,  and  (an  unheard-of  thing) 
among  them  are  a  hundred  and  eighteen  symphonies. 


406  LITE    OF    HANDEL. 

an  opera  in  three  acts,  finished  on  the  24th  of  October ; 
the  opening  of  a  new  theater  on  the  18th  of  December ; 
the  performance  of  Orestes^  a  pasticcio ;  finally,  in  the 
midst  of  all  this,  the  publication  of  the  six  famous  con- 
certos for  thirteen  instruments,  called  the  Ilautbois  Con- 
certos. 

In  1736  his  labors  were  still  more  extraordinary :  Alex- 
cmder''s  Feast.,  commenced  on  the  1st  of  January  and  fin- 
ished on  the  17th;  Grand ConcertanteiovTLiii\Q\n%tY\\m.Q\\t^.^ 
on  the  25th  of  January  ;  Atalanta.,  an  opera  in  three  acts, 
commenced  on  the  3d  of  April  and  finished  on  the  22d; 
Wedding  Anthem.,  with  choruses  and  full  orchestra,  per- 
formed on  the  27th  of  April ;  Justin.,  an  opera  in  three 
acts,  commenced  on  the  14th  of  August,  and  finished  on 
the  7th  September ;  Armenius.,  an  opera  in  three  acts, 
commenced  on  the  15th  of  September,  and  finished  on 
the  3d  of  October  ;  "  Cecilia  volgi,"  a  grand  cantata,  with 
three  recitatives,  three  airs,  and  a  duet,  on  the  22 d  of 
November  ;  "  Sei  del  cielo,"  a  small  cantata,  on  the  2 2d 
of  November ;  and,  finally,  JBeroiice^  an  opera  in  three 
acts,  commenced  on  the  18th  of  December,  and  finished 
on  the  18th  of  the  following  January. 

Another  astonishing  proof  of  this  abundant  vigor  was 
that  which  he  gave  toward  the  end  of  1  737,  on  his  return 
from  the  waters  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  while  still  convales- 
cent from  a  paralytic  attack :  Commencement  of  Fara- 
mondo  on  the  15th  of  November;  end  of  the  first  act  on 
the  28th  of  ditto;  end  of  the  second  act  on  the  4th  of 
December;  commencement  oi  Funeral  Anthem  on  the 
7th  of  December ;  end  of  the  same  on  the  12th  of  ditto  ; 
rehearsal  and  performance  of  the  same  on  the  17th  of 
ditto  ;  end  of  the  third  act  oi  Fa.ramondo  on  the  24th 
of  ditto;  commencement  of  J^Ter.Tes  on  the  26th  of  ditto. 
The  accuracy  of  these  facts  is  based  upon  incontroverti- 
ble proofs.* 

During  ten  years,  from  1741  to  1751,  and  when  he 
*  See  "  Catalogue,"  under  tlie  title  of  the  above-named  works. 


CELERITY     OF    COMPOSITION.  407 

was  from  fifty-six  to  sixty-six  years  of  age,  and  in  the 
midst  of  the  troubles  attendant  upon  two  fiiilurcs,  Han- 
del w^rote  thirteen  oratorios,  besides  Semele^  Choice  of 
Hercules^  Dettingen  Te  Deum^  Dettingen  Aiithem^  several 
chamber  duets,  and  a  great  deal  of  instrumental  music  ; 
without  mentioning  his  journey  to  Ireland,  which  occu- 
pied nine  months,  or  the  time  consumed  in  mounting  and 
producing  each  work,  every  performance  of  whicli  he 
conducted  in  person.  When  we  remember  what  an  ora- 
torio is,  that  Epic  of  Music,  can  we  fail  to  be  astonished 
at  the  spectacle  of  an  old  man  who  sometimes  wrote  one, 
and  sometimes  two  such  works  in  each  year  ?  It  was 
Apollo  in  the  body  of  Hercules.  He  composed  one  after 
another,  almost  without  breaking  the  chain  of  continu- 
ity ;  The  llessiah  in  twenty-three  days,  and  Samson  in 
thirty  or  thirty-five.  The  history  of  the  productions  of 
the  human  mind  does  not  contain  a  similar  example, 
^o  one  ever  composed  difficult  things  with  such  facility. 
It  is  another  extraordinary  circumstance  that  The 
Ifessiah  was  completed  on  the  12th  of  September,  and 
Samso7i  taken  in  hand  on  the  21st.  The  end  of  Fara- 
tnondo  is  dated  on  the  24th  of  December,  and  the  first 
line  of  Xerxes  was  written  on  the  2r)th.  Scml  was 
finished  on  the  27th  of  September,  and  Israel  com- 
menced on  the- 1st  of  October.  The  correspondence  be- 
tween the  author  of  the  words  for  Belshazzar  and  Han- 
del* proves  that  he  did  not  always  know  the  whole  of  a 
poem  w^hen  he  began  to  set  it  to  music.  He  was  gifted 
with  such  astonishing  powers  of  conception,  that  he  liad 
no  need  to  collect  his  ideas  beforehand,  or  to  form  a 
plan.  He  had  the  faculty  of  penetrating  himself  instan- 
taneously with  the  most  opposite  passions  and  sentiments. 
He  did  not  so  much  compose  as  improvise  his  works. 
And,  nevertheless,  they  are  complete,  as  strong  as  oaks, 
and  as  solid  as  rocks  ;  they  have  no  signs  of  haste  ;  they 
are  massive  gold. 

*  See  page  307. 


408  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

Genius  acts  in  many  ways.  Gluck,  who,  if  he  had 
written  instrumental  music,  would  have  been  something 
of  Handel's  stature,  found  it  necessary  to  collect  his 
ideas  before  production.  His  score  was  finished  before 
he  had  put  the  first  line  upon  paper.  With  the  one, 
thought  annihilated  space  like  a  race-horse ;  with  the 
other,  it  was  distilled  slowly,  like  an  essence  in  an  alem- 
bic. The  one  produced  without  difticulty ;  music  welled 
forth  from  his  brain  like  water  from  an  abundant  spring  : 
the  other  brought  forth  as  our  mothers  do,  in  grief  and 
pain.  "  Ghick  has  often  told  me,"  relates  Mr.  Corenses,* 
"  that  he  began  by  going  mentally  over  each  of  his  acts ; 
afterward  he  went  over  the  entire  piece ;  that  he  always 
composed  imagining  himself  in  the  center  of  the  pit ; 
and  that  his  piece  thus  combined  and  his  airs  character- 
ized, he  regarded  the  work  as  finished,  although  he  had 
written  nothing ;  but  that  this  preparation  usually  cost 
him  an  entire  year,  and  most  fi-equently  a  grave  illness. 
*  This,'  said  he,  '  is  what  a  great  number  of  persons  call 
snaking  canzonets?  " 

Handel  was  a  worker  not  less  indefatigable  than  his 
genius  was  inexhaustible./ He  never  abused  his  super- ^ 
natural  faculties.  His  MSS.,  which  were  so  impetuously 
written,  bear  the  marks  of  incessant  revision.  As  an 
example  of  this  constant  perfecting  process,  may  be  cited 
the  air,  "  How  beautiful,"  in  The  Messiah^  which  was 
rewritten  four  times.  In  many  of  the  scores,  and  espe- 
cially in  Madcunisto^  corrections  made  on  little  jjieces  of 
paper  may  be  found  pasted  over  the  passages  which  had 
been  efiaced.  In  Esther  there  is  a  recitative,  four  lines 
long,  which  is  corrected  in  this  manner ;  and  then  the 
corrected  version  not  having  satisfied  the  composer,  he 
has  made  a  third.  The  last  version  is  now  attached  to 
the  original  MS. ;  the  first  is  in  the  Fitzwilliam  Museum. 
So  much  patience  in  such  an  impatient  man,  so  much 
trouble  taken  with  four  lines  of  recitative  by  the  man 
*  Article  "  Gluck,"  in  Choron's  Dictionnaire  des  Musiciens. 


GUANDEUR    OF    STYLE.  409 

who  produced  Israel  i?i  Egypt  hi  twenty-four  days, 
speak  vohimes  for  the  laborious  industry  with  which  he 
toiled.  When  he  died,  scarcely  any  of  his  works  were 
as  he  had  written  them;  all  have  sustained  some  change, 
some  transformation.  He  returned  to  them  constantly 
with  the  activity  of  an  inexhaustible  fecundity.  And 
yet  no  man  was  ever  less  uncertain  than  he  as  to  the 
road  which  he  intended  to  follow ;  no  one  had  a  more 
decided  will  or  definite  end ;  no  one  knew  more  pre- 
cisely whither  he  was  going,  what  he  wished  to  do,  and 
what  he  did.  But  in  addition  to  his  great  love  for  im- 
provement, having  been  his  own  manager  for  half  a  cen- 
tury, and  being  consequently  obliged  to  accommodate 
himself  to  one  circumstance  or  another,  one  new  singer 
or  another,  conducting  the  score  every  evening,  strug- 
gling every  day  against  powerful  enemies,  and  against 
the  musical  ignorance  of  his  age,  he  was  compelled  to 
multiply  himself,  to  employ  all  sorts  of  means  to  attract 
attention,  and  satisfy  that  blind  and  insatiable  passion 
for  novelty  which  was  then  even  more  morbid  than  it  is 
at  the  present  day.*  ^ 

In  spite  of  his  ardent  disposition,  he  never  worked 
capriciously.  His  was  a  well-directed  fire.  His  compo- 
sitions followed  each  other  with  monastic  regularity.  ^^ 
With  the  exception  of  Hymen^  which  was  written  be- 
tween the  first  and  second  acts  of  &aul^  I  do  not  recol- 
lect that  he  wrote  more  than  one  at  a  time. 

Grandeur  is  the  distinctive  characteristic  which  domi^ 
nates  over  all  the  compositions  of  Handel.  Even  in  the 
exquisite  gracefulness  of  Acts  and  Galatea  there  is  a 
latent  vigor,  a  certain  solemnity  of  style,  which  elevates 
while  it  chains  the  mind.     Every  one  is  struck  with  this. 


*  A  complete  edition  of  Handel's  works  is,  in  this  sense,  very  diffi- 
cult, and  will  require  more  care  than  the  works  of  any  other  man.  They 
swarm  with  variations  and  additions,  the  results  of  his  active  life ;  and 
these  must  of  course  be  given,  because  every  thing  by  him  is  good,  and 
they  are  useful  as  illustrating  the  history  of  his  genius. 

18 


410  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

So  true  is  it,  thnt  critics,  biographers,  friends,  and  ene- 
mies all  concur  in  speaking  of  him  as  a  "  colossus,"  a 
"  giant,"  a  "  man  mountain."  His  atmosphere  is  the 
immensity  resplendent  with  the  sun.  Like  Corneille,  he 
lived  in  the  sublime.  Thus,  of  all  musicians,  no  one  has 
better  realized  the  dreams  of  those  heavenly  songs  which 
glorify  the  majesty  of  Jehovah.  No  one  before  him, 
and  no  one  after  him,  has  ever  composed  choruses  com- 
parable to  his,  or  has  known  how  to  employ  and  com- 
bine with  an  equal  power  the  different  forms  of  the 
human  voice.  When  you  have  heard  an  oratorio  ten  or 
twelve  times,  when  the  first  transports  of  admiration 
have  passed  away,  when  you  can  more  calmly  appreciate 
your  emotions,  and  taste  them  all  the  better  for  being  in 
full  possession  of  yourself,  these  choruses  develop  them- 
selves before  you  like  a  drama  filled  with  interest ;  you 
see  each  group  of  the  difierent  registers  advancing  suc- 
cessively, as  bravely  as  a  battalion  marching  to  the  as- 
sault, halt,  unfold  their  strength,  and  at  length  display 
their  united  power  in  a  majestic  and  wonderful  finale. 
The  transitions  are  so  ably  managed,  and  the  eftects  are 
of  such  incredible  perfection,  that  you  seem  to  hear  ten 
thousand  voices,  whose  harmonious  clamor  is  loud  enough 
to  reach  the  skies.  In  this  sense,  the  "  Hallelujah"  of 
The  Messiah  is  an  explosion  of  incommensurable  beauty. 
Where  have  the  Pindaric  Odes  expressed  the  idea  of 
triumph  more  brilliantly  and  more  enthusiastically  than 
the  chorus  in  Judas  Maccahmus^  "  See  the  conquering 
hero  comes  ?"  The  battle-cry  in  the  same  oratorio, 
"  Sound  an  alarm,"  is  just  such  another  spark  of  musical 
electricity  as  our  Marseillaise^  which  has  made  myriads 
brave,  and  is  alone  sufficient  to  immortalize  the  name  of 
Rouget  de  I'Isle.  And  Isixiel  in  Egypt  .^*  Is  there  an 
epic  poem  to  surpass  that  ?  With  what  breathless  anx- 
iety, with  what  fervor  is  the  introductory  chorus  of  the 
Hebrews  filled,  in  which  they  describe  the  sufferings  of 
*  See  Appendix  W. 


HIS     ORIGINALITY.  411 

their  hard  servitude,  and  implore  the  succor  of  tlie 
Lord  !  With  what  truthtuhiess  are  tlie  convulsions  of 
nature  painted  in  the  storm  of  hailstones  !  With  what 
terrific  i-eality  is  the  thick  darkness  spread  over  the 
earth  !  What  heart-rending  lamentations  when  the  first- 
born of  the  Egyptians  are  slain  by  the  hand  of  God  ! 
What  a  contrast  between  the  silent  march  of  the  enfran- 
chised Israelites  at  the  bottom  of  the  miraculous  way, 
and  the  crowding  of  the  waters  together  to  let  them 
pass.  Words  can  not  depict  these  superhuman  effects 
of  musical  art.  When  you  enjoy  these,  you  wish  to  have 
around  you  those  whom  you  love,  in  order  that  they 
mny  partake  of  your  delight. 

The  works  of  humanity  proceed  from  each  other. 
Strictl}^  speaking,  no  man  is  a  creator.  But  among  men 
of  intellect  there  are  certainly  some  who  are  more  inven- 
tive, or  rather,  who  discover  more  than  others.  Handel 
is  one  of  these.  Whatever  the  kind  of  composition,  he 
makes  it  his  own,  and  his  only.  He  changes  or  increases 
it  so  as  to  make  quite  a  new  thing.  This  is  what  is  called 
creating.  His  oratorios  are  cast  in  a  deeper  mold  than 
any  one  else  has  ever  imagined.  They  resemble  nothing 
else  that  has  ever  been  heard  before.  As  a  composer  of 
Italian  operas,  he  had  opened  for  himself  a  new  way 
even  in  Italy.  As  a  writer  of  sacred  music,,  likewise,  he 
listened  to  nothing  but  his  own  genius,  and  disdained  to 
follow  the  traces  of  Gombert,  of  Palestrina,  and  of  Alle- 
gri;  nor  yet  of  the  English  composers  who  had  preceded 
him,  Byrde,  Gibbons,  and  Purcell.  His  Anthems  pre- 
serve a  very  high  religious  sentiment,  but  they  have  an 
ardor  and  a  lyrical  beauty  previously  unknown  in  that 
species  of  composition.  His  predecessors  give  us  the 
idea  of  monks,  filled  with  a  grave  faith  and  animated 
by  an  ethereal  fervor,  adoring  God  in  the  depths  of 
their  cloisters  with  a  touching  unction ;  but  he  sets 
before  us  active  and  energetic  men,  singing  enthusiast- 


412  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

ically  under  the  canopy  of  heaven  the  glories  of  the 
Omnipotent. 

The  author  of  The  Messiah  is  an  epic  poet  above  all ; 
but  he  exhibits  no  less  superiority  in  treating  subjects 
with  which  the  fire,  the  nobility,  and  the  majesty  of  that 
style  would  not  so  well  accord.  He  has  even  succeeded 
in  matters  for  which  one  would  suppose  him  to  be  the 
least  fitted.  His  overtures  all  uniformly  terminate  with 
a  coda  in  minuet,  according  to  the  custom  of  his  time. 
Many  of  these  minuets  are  delicious,  especially  in  Tamer- 
lane.^ That  in  Ariadne  was  so  much  in  request,  that 
every  fiddler  in  town  and  country  scraped  it  about;!  it 
W'as  set  to  words,  which  were  sung  in  the  streets  as  well 
as  in  the  drawing-room,  and  nothing  but  it  was  heard  for 
six  months.  The  gavot  in  the  overture  of  Otho  must 
have  been  not  less  popular,  for  it  was  played  from  one 
end  to  the  other  of  the  three  kingdoms,  upon  every  kind 
of  instrument ;  as  Burney  says,  "  from  the  organ  to  the 
salt-box."| 

But  we  are  indebted  to  this  multifarious  genius  for 
something  more  than  minuets  to  be  sung  in  the  streets. 
His  operas  (judging  by  what  I  have  heard  of  them  upon 
the  piano)  prove  that,  if  he  had  not  written  oratorios 
which  have  absorbed  universal  admiration,  his  renown  as 
a  composer  of  theatrical  music  would  have  been  as  great 
as  that  of  the  celebrated  Italian  masters.  They  have 
composed  nothing  more  dramatically  fine  than  "Tutta 
raccolta,"  in  Scijno^  and  "  Tra  sospetti,"  in  Rodelinda. 
The  duet  in  Rinaldo^  "  Al  trionfo  del  nostro  furor,"  will 
bear  a  comparison  with  "  Esprit  de  haine  et  de  rage,"  in 
Gluck's  Armide  ;  and  it  could  not  sustain  a  more  form- 

*  Burney.  t  Barney. 

X  The  salt-hox,  which  clowns  and  jugglers  used  as  an  instrument,  was 
a  common  salt-box,  inside  of  which  the  air  was  beaten  with  a  little  stick. 
It  was  also  used  in  rough  music.  I  have  an  old  engraving  of  1742,  rid- 
iculing a  procession  of  Freemasons,  in  which  this  culinary  instrument 
may  be  seen  thus  employed.  It  also  figures  in  Hogarth's  caricature 
against  The  Beggar''s  Opera. 


PICTORIAL    QUALITY     OP    UISWORKS.         413 

idable  one.  He  also  produced  delicious  melodies,  ele- 
gant as  those  of  Cimarosa ;  lively  and  spirited  as  those 
of  Gretry ;  gentle  and  holy  as  those  of  Pergolese.  "  Las- 
cia  chi  io  ]^iaiiga,"  in  Rlnaldo;  "  Verdi  prati,"  in  Alcina; 
"  Ombra  cara,"  in  Jladamisto;  and  "  Piangero,"  in  Gi- 
ulio  Cesare,  are  morceaux  of  infinite  simplicity  of  ex- 
pression, and  of  a  tenderness  which  draws  tears  from 
your  eyes ;  they  equal  the  perfection  of  design,  the 
purity  of  form,  and  the  delicacy  of  the  cantabiles  of  Stra- 
della  and  Palestrina ;  they  are  consonant  with  all  that  is 
chaste,  good,  and  affectionate  in  the  human  soul.  At 
the  same  time,  he  has  known  how  to  be  as  graceful  as 
Haydn  (that  is  to  say,  to  be  the  perfection  of  grace) 
w^hen  he  wrote  the  songs  for  the  nymphs  in  Acis  and 
Galatea.  The  pictures  ofWatteau  are  not  more  lovely 
than  that  pastoral,  which  is  a  gem  of  freshness  and  pret- 
tiness. 

And  this  brings  me  to  another  of  Handel's  qualities, ' 
that  of  being  a  great  painter  of  words.  He  reflected  al- 
ways as  he  composed  ;  instead  of  giving  himself  up  pas- 
sively to  the  d^mon  of  inspiration,  he  subjugated  and 
governed  it.  His  notes  seem  to  be  the  echo  of  the 
words.  What  an  immense  and  mournful  grief  is  there 
in  "  He  was  despised"  in  The  Messiah  1  What  heart- 
rending desolation  !  No  one  can  listen  to  it  without 
sympathy.  All  who  have  suffered  themselves  will  admit 
that  it  is  impossible  to  descend  deeper  into  the  depths 
of  sorrow.  Thus  Handel's  music  reveals  to  us,  as  far  as 
can  be,  the  very  signification  of  that  Avhich  it  interprets. 
One  may  say  that  it  articulates,  so  exactly  is  it  fitted  to 
the  poem,  as  a  well-made  coat  to  the  body  of  its  wearer. 
It  portrays  the  thought.  The  oratorio  of  Samso7i^  above 
all,  is  in  this  respect  almost  as  remarkable  as  Don  Gio- 
vanni., the  masterpiece  of  the  lyric  stage.  Each  person- 
age in  it  has  its  peculiar  character  so  distinctly  designed 
as  to  be  intelligible  even  without  the  words.  There  has 
appeared  in  Germany  a  school  whicli  pretends  to  emanci- 


414  LIFE    OF    HANDEL. 

pate  music,  and  to  reform  the  art  of  Bach,  of  Handel,  of 
Mozart,  of  Beethoven,  of  Cimarosa,  of  Weber,  and  of 
Rossini,  and  to  put  in  its  place  I  know  not  what.  Even 
this  school  admires  in  Handel  the  perfect  appropriation 
of  his  note.  One  of  the  reformers  passes  for  the  author 
of  an  article  on  L'' Allegro  ed  il  Penseroso^  in  which  it  is 
said : — "  If  music  is  to  be  restored  to  that  state  of  purity 
and  depth ;  when  the  standard  of  its  worth  is  sought 
for  in  the  physical  truth  of  its  expression  :  when  the 
words  and  their  significations  are  the  touchstone  of  the 
composition  ;  when  the  melody  of  speech  shall  be  the 
stipulated  foundation  of  the  melody  sung,  there  will  not 
be  for  us  northmen,  for  us  Germans,  in  the  entire  col- 
lection of  musical  treasures,  any  works  that  should  be  so 
highly  valued  and  exclusively  brought  forward,  as  clas- 
sical specimens  of  the  study  of  art,  inspired  with  fresh 
youth  in  the  s^iirit  just  mentioned,  as  the  works  of  Han- 
del."* I  will  quote  also  the  judgment  of  a  French 
amateur  upon  the  subject ; — "  With  the  greater  number 
of  composers  one  does  meet  with  features  intended  to 
adorn  the  song,  and  which  may  be  suppressed  at  need  ; 
but  M'ith  Handel  the  distinctive  feature  is  inherent  to  the 
song,  and  is  almost  always  the  most  conspicuous  and  en- 
ergetic part  of  it.  It  is  there  that  the  composer  gives 
the  finishing  touch  of  his  pencil,  and  completes  the  pic- 
ture, which  words  alone  could  never  have  painted.  I 
shall  quote,  as  an  example,  the  two  airs  of  Satan,  in  the 
Mesurrection.  Could  audacity,  lage,  and  rebellion  be 
better  expressed  ?  Sometimes  the  character  of  the  per- 
sonages is  revealed  by  the  accompaniment,  as  in  Giiilio 
Cesare.  Achilla,  a  kind  of  military  executioner,  who  is 
a  favorite  of  Ptolemy,  and  who  has  brought  the  head  of 
Pompey  to  his  master,  makes  a  declaration  of  love  to 
Cornelia.  His  song  is  gross,  doubtless,  but  it  only  ex- 
presses that  which  he  wishes  to  say.  It  is  the  accom- 
paniment which  shows  what  is  love  in  a  base  and  cruel 
*  Musical  WarM,  20th  March,  1855. 


WORD    PAINTING.  415 

soul.    One  trembles  every  moment,  lest  a  word  or  a  ges- 
ture of  Cornelia  shouM  cost  her  life."* 

The  works  of  Handel  are  in  fact  full  of  truth  and  of 
local  color.  To  the  people  of  the  Lord  in  their  prayers, 
to  pagans  in  their  orgies,  to  shepherds,  to  pontiffs,  to 
warriors,  to  the  afflicted  and  to  the  happy,  to  mortals 
and  to  supernatural  beings,  he  knows  how  to  render 
their  own  peculiar  language.  He  lias  invented  voices 
for  the  angels,  as  Weber  did  for  demons;  he  has  dis- 
covered the  true  accents  of  a  monster  like  Polyphemus, 
as  Mozart  did  lor  a  statue.  Gifted  with  such  qualities, 
he  necessarily  excels  in  recitatives;  not  less  than  Gluck 
himself,  he  knows  how  to  impress  upon  them  at  the  same 
time  a  singular  strength  and  justness  of  expression — a 
penetrating  and  magisterial  tone,  which  satisfies  the 
mind  as  well  as  the  ears.  That  in  Giulio  Cesare^  "Al- 
ma del'  gran  Pompeo,"  and  the  scene  of  Bajazet's  death 
in  Tamerlane^  may  be  quoted  as  examples  of  the  noblest 
style  of  declamation.  Porpora,  who  was  indebted  to  his 
recitatives  for  a  part  of  his  reputation,  could  not  help 
praising  those  of  Handel  even  in  the  midst  of  the  outcry 
against  him  in  1734.  Shield  reports  that  once  having 
congratulated  Haydn  on  the  beauty  of  the  recitatives 
in  his  oratorio  II  ritorno  di  Tohia^  the  latter  replied 
immediately,  "Ah  !  'Deeper  and  deeper,'  in  Jephtha^  is 
far  beyond  that."  Shield  subsequently  adds  :f — "  While 
I  was  examining  this  wonderful  production  for  extracts, 
an  impressive  singer  had  the  goodness  to  rehearse  it, 
during  which  my  mind  became  so  agitated  by  a  succes- 
sion of  various  emotions,  that  I  determined  to  lay  the 
whole  of  this  climax  and  anti-climax  of  musical  expression 
before  the  eye  of  the  reader,  to  prove  that  the  highest 
praise  of  it  will  never  amount  to  an  hyperbole."  I  quite 
agree  with  Shield  in  this. 

Another  very  admirable  quality  in  Handel  is  his  per- 

*  Preface  to  the  ColleGtlon  des  Chants  Olassiques. 
t  Eudiments  of  Tliorough  Bass,  quoted  by  Crosse. 


416  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

feet  clearness.  He  never  exhibits  the  slightest  inclina- 
tion for  tricks  of  art;  and  in  his  most  snpernatural 
conceptions  he  remains  constantly  natural.  To  all  the 
qualities  of  strength  he  united  the  most  exquisite  deli- 
cacy, and  ahvays  manifested  the  most  supreme  good 
taste.  In  this,  again,  the  enchanting  Mozart  is  the  only 
one  who  can  be  compared  with  him.  He  transports  and 
exalts  you,  but  without  surprising  you.  Even  in  the 
most  remote  regions  of  the  empyrean  to  which  he  con- 
ducts you,  the  mind  never  lose?  its  self-possession.  He 
does  not  embarrass  you  by  oddities :  he  vibrates  every 
fiber  in  your  being,  and  that  without  disturbing  your 
equanimity.  He  has  nothing  of  that  school  of  dreamers 
which  the  admirable  Beethoven  and  Weber  have  so 
ennobled.  The  great  Beethoven  has  been  sometimes 
strange ;  t)ut  he,  never.  His  music  is  sublimated  reason  ; 
and  it  may  even  be  called  reasonable  music,  if  the  word 
be  used  in  that  true  and  noble  signification  which  it  bore 
ere  dry  and  narrow  souls  had  rendered  it  a  word  of  as 
much  ill  omen  in  the  arts  as  it  is  in  politics,  merely  to 
hide  their  own  mortal  coldness  and  implacable  selfishness. 

In  Handel,  both  the  form  and  the  thought  are  pure 
and  simple,  free  from  all  alloy.  There  is  scarcely  any 
need  of  musical  education  to  comprehend  it ;  it  would 
charm  the  heart  of  a  savage  who  had  never  heard  a  note 
of  music  before  in  his  life.  His  style  is  exquisite  because 
it  is  beautiful  and  true.  Father  Andre  (paraphrasing  St. 
Augustine)  says,  "  Beauty  is  the  splendor  of  truth  ;"  and 
no  one  has  illustrated  that  proposition  better  than  Han- 
del. 

In  him  we  find  all  the  marks  whereby  to  recognize  the 
culminating  powers  of  his  art;  he  has  been  universal. 
Certain  composers  excel  in  the  theater,  others  in  the 
church ;  this  one  in  the  fugue  or  the  quatuor,  that  one 
in  the  chamber  duet  or  the  cantata ;  but  Handel  has 
treated  all  styles,  and  has  excelled  in  all,  whether  the 
subject  be  gay  or  serious,  light  or  solemn,  profane  or 


UNIVERSALITY     OF     HIS    GENIUS.  417 

sacred.  He  would  be  the  Shakespeare  of  music  if  he 
were  not  the  Michael  Angelo.  Like  Bach,  Mozart, 
Haydn,  and  Beethoven,  he  composed  instrumental  music, 
which  is  as  beautiful  as  his  vocal  music.  The  Suites  de 
Pieces  pour  le  Clavecin  and  the  Organ  Concertos  would 
be  alone  sufficient  to  place  his  name  in  the  first  rank. 
To  appreciate  the  value  of  the  Suites  de  Pieces^  it  is 
only  necessary  to  quote  the  few  words  by  M.  Fetis : 
"  These  compositions  are  of  the  most  beautiful  style,  and 
can  be  compared  only  with  the  pieces  of  the  same  sort 
composed  by  Bach."  This  comparison  with  Bach  is,  in 
the  mouth  of  Fetis,  an  enormous  compliment.  Hawkins 
had  already  said  r^  "  Without  the  hazard  of  contradic- 
tion, or  the  necessity  of  an  exception,  it  may  be  asserted 
of  these  compositions  that  they  are  the  most  masterly 
productions  of  the  kind  that  we  know  in  the  world." 
Burney,  speaking  of  the  Orgaii  Concertos^  says  :f  "  Pub- 
lic players  on  keyed  instruments,  as  well  as  private,  to- 
tally subsisted  on  these  concertos  for  nearly  thirty  years." 

The  overtures  of  Handel  are  extremely  short,  as  was 
then  the  custom ;  they  have  none  of  those  symphonic 
dimensions  which  are  now  given  to  that  style  of  compo- 
sition. "  The  most  elaborate  of  them  never  cost  him," 
as  Hawkins  affirms,;[;  "  more  than  a  morning's  labor." 
Nevertheless,  some  of  them  include  marvelous  fugues. 
The  celebrated  critic,  Marpurg,  in  his  Lettres  sur  la  Mu~ 
sique^  declares  that  he  could  never  listen  without  emo- 
tion to  that  one  in  the  second  overture  to  Admetus.^ 
The  celebrity  which  the  Hautboy  Concertos  enjoyed 
during  the  last  century  makes  one  regret  that  Handel 
lived  in  a  time  when  concerted  music  had  not  taken  its 
full  development. 

Men  who  have  been  thus  admirable  in  all  the  branches 

*  Page  914.  +  Page  429.  %  Page  914. 

§  Quoted  by  Burney.  Admetus,  Scipio,  Saul,  and  Solomonhave,  excep- 
tionally, two  overtures,  one  for  the  first  act  and  another  for  the  second. 
Amadis  has  really  two  overtures  for  the  first  act. 

1H 


418  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

of  art  are  rare.  It  is  to  be  remarked  that  men  like 
Gluck,  Cimarosa,  Mehul,  and  Rossini  have  not  dared  to 
write  for  instruments  ;  they  lack  this  gem  in  their  glori- 
ous diadems.  There,  in  fact,  is  the  rock  upon  which  all 
those  geniuses,  upon  whom  N'ature  has  not  lavished  all 
her  gifts,  make  shipwreck.  Judges  say  that  Leo,  Por- 
pora,  Hasse,  and  Piccini  are  quite  beneath  themselves  in 
their  instrumental  music.  They  inhabit  Olympus,  but 
they  are  only  demi-gods. 

In  that  musical  Olympus  the  most  divine  masters  have 
given  to  Handel  the  place  of  Jupiter  Tonans.  "  He  is 
the  father  of  us  all,"  exclaimed  the  patriarchal  Haydn.* 
*'  Handel,"  said  the  dramatic  Mozart,  "  knows  better 
than  any  one  of  us  all  what  is  capable  of  producing  a 
great  effect ;  when  he  chooses  he  can  strike  like  a  thun- 
derbolt."! The  lyrical  Beethoven  called  him  "  the  mon- 
arch of  the  musical  kingdom.  He  was  the  greatest 
composer  that  ever  lived,"  said  he  to  Mr.  Moscheles.J; 
"  I  would  uncover  my  head,  and  kneel  before  his  tomb." 
Beethoven  was  on  the  point  of  death,  when  one  of  his 
friends§  sent  him,  as  a  present,  forty  volumes  by  Handel. 

*  Vie  de  Haydn^  by  Stendahl. 

t  Holmes's  Life  of  Mozart^  p.  306.  Mozart  was  such  an  admirer  of  Han- 
del that  he  amplified,  in  1789,  the  orchestration  of  The  Messiah,  of  Acis 
and  Galatea,  of  Alexander's  Feast,  and  of  the  Ode  on  St.  Cecilia^ s  Day.  As 
was  the  custom  in  these  days,  Handel  has  unfortunately  left  in  his  ora- 
torios the  organ  parts  ad  libitum,  giving  only  an  indication  of  the  bass. 
Mozart  also  filled  up  some  gaps  in  the  works  which  have  been  named. 

X  Life  of  Beefhoven,  by  Moscheles,  vol.  i.,  p.  292. 

§  This  friend  was  Mr.  Stumpff,  a  harpmaker  in  London.  Mr.  Lons- 
dale, the  musical  pubhsher  in  Bond-street,  perfectly  recollects  ha\'ing 
sold  him  a  copy  of  Arnold's  edition  of  Handel's  works.  Mr.  Martin,  Mr. 
StumpflTs  successor,  has  discovered  in  the  MS.  journal  of  his  predeces- 
sor the  following  memorandum,  which  he  has  kindly  communicated  to 
me  through  Mr.  Robert  Lonsdale : 

"  London,  August  24th,  1826. 

"  My  nephew,  Henry  Sturapflf,  left  to  return  to  his  tather,  and  went  by 
a  Hamburg  vessel,  called  the  Thetis,  Captain  J.  Eutherford.  He  took 
two  packing-cases,  one  containing  his  tools  and  wearing  apparel,  and  the 
other  the  works  of  Handel,  in  forty  volumes,  directed  to  the  greatest  liv 
ing  composer,  Luis  von  Beethoven,  as  a  present  sent  to  him,  and  directed 


HANDEL    AS    A    rEKFOltMEll.  419 

He  ordered  that  tliey  should  be  brought  into  his  cham- 
ber, gazed  upon  them  with  a  reanimated  eye,  and  tlien 
pointing  to  them  with  his  linger,  he  pronounced  lliese 
words,  "  There  is  the  truth."* 

What  a  magnificent  subject  for  a  picture.  David  did 
not  select  a  more  inspiring  one  in  the  "  Death  of  Socra- 
tes," to  wdiich'he  has  given  a  second  immortality.  Is  it 
not  grand  to  see  these  noble  geniuses  standing  before 
each  other  on  the  threshold  of  eternity  ?  Is  it  not  beau- 
tiful to  see  the  author  of  the  English  oratorios  arising, 
as  it  were,  from  the  tomb,  to  present  his  works  to  the 
author  of  the  symphony  in  D,  who  greeted  him  with  a 
sublime  death  ? 

Handel  w^as  not  the  less  excellent  as  a  performer  than 
as  a  composer.  He  played  to  perfection  on  the  harpsi- 
chord, and  above  all  upon  the  oi-gan,  his  favorite  instru- 
ment. As  an  improviser,  there  was  only  Sebastian  Each 
wdio  could  be  compared  with  him.  Hawkins,  who  heard 
him,  says :  "  Who  shall  describe  its  effects  on  his  enrap- 
tured auditory  ?  Silence,  the  truest  applause,  succeeded 
the  instant  that  he  addressed  himself  to  the  instrument, 
and  that  so  profound  that  it  checked  respiration,  an<l 
seemed  to  control  the  functions  of  nature ;  while  the 
magic  of  his  touch  kept  the  attention  of  his  hearers 

to  him  at  Wien,  to  the  care  of  Mr.  Stinclier,  pianoforte  maker  there. 
Henry  will  find  a  conveyance  from  his  home  to  Wien,  and  pay  all  ex- 
penses. 

"  In  the  score  cal]ed  Tlie  Messiah,  I  have  written  the  following  words  : 

*' '  Herr  Luis  von  Beethoven  is  begged  most  kindly  to  accept  this  well- 
known  and  complete  edition  of  Handel's  works,  in  forty  volumes,  in 
sign  of  the  greatest  esteem  and  profound  veneration  of  P.  A.  Stump ff.' 

"  In  London.    The  above  collection  cost  £45." 

These  facts  give  authenticity  to  the  anecdote  related  by  the  Ilarnwn- 
icon.  Beethoven  fell  ill  in  December,  1826,  and  died  on  the  27th  of 
March,  1827.  It  is  an  unheard-of  thing  that  the  collection  of  Handel's 
works  whicli  Beethoven  left,  did  not  find  a  purchaser  at  Vienna.  It  was 
off"ered  for  sale  shortly  afterward  to  Mr.  Lonsdale  by  Mr.  Diabelli,  a 
musical  publisher  at  Vienna. 

*  Harmonicon,  January,  1828-9. 


420  LIFE     O  F     II  A  N  1>  E  L . 

awake  only  to  those  enchanting  sounds  to  which  it  gave 
utterance." 

Handel  exercised  the  same  power  over  his  hearers 
from  his  infancy.  At  eleven  years  of  age  lie  threw  all 
Berlin  into  an  ecstacy ;  at  twenty,  Hamburg  declared 
his  voluntaries  of  fugues  and  counterpoint  to  he  superior 
to  those  of  Kuhnau  of  Leipsic,  who  had  been  regarded 
as  a  prodigy.'^  Festing  and  Dr.  Arne,  wdio  w^ere  pres- 
ent in  1733  at  the  ceremony  of  the  Oxford  Public  Act, 
when  he  played  a  voluntary  upon  the  organ,  told  Burney 
that  "  neither  themselves,  nor  any  one  else  of  their  ac- 
quaintance, had  ever  before  heard  such  extempore  or 
such  premeditated  playing  on  that  or  any  other  instru- 
ment." His  execution  seized  every  body  with  amaze- 
ment from  the  very  first  moment.  Busby  relates  the 
following  fact :  "  One  Sunday,  having  attended  divine 
worship  in  a  country  church,  Handel  asked  the  organist 
to  permit  him  to  play  the  people  out,  to  which  he  readily 
consented.  Handel  accordingly  sat  down  to  the  organ, 
and  began  to  play  in  such  a  masterly  manner  as  instantly 
to  attract  the  attention  of  the  whole  congregation,  who, 
instead  of  vacating  their  seats  as  usual,  remained  for  a 
considerable  space  of  time  fixed  in  silent  admiration. 
The  organist  began  to  be  impatient  (perhaps  his  wife  was 
waiting  dinner),  and  at  length  addressed  the  great  per- 
former, telling  him  he  was  convinced  that  lie  could  not 
play  the  people  out,  and  advised  him  to  relinquish  the 
attempt,  for  while  he  played  they  would  never  quit  the 
church." 

In  like  manner,  when  he  was  at  Venice  he  enjoyed  a 
curious  triumph.  Arriving  in  the  middle  of  the  carnival, 
he  was  conducted  that  very  evening  to  a  masked  fete,  at 
which  he  played  upon  the  harpsichord,  with  his  mask 
upon  his  face ;  on  hearing  which,  Domenico  Scarlatti, 
who  happened  to  be  present,  cried  out,  "  'Tis  the  devil, 
or  the  Saxon  of  whom  every  one  is  talking."  Scarlatti 
*  Mattheson. 


HIS     UN  T  IKING     INDUSTRY.  421 

was  the  first  player  upon  the  harpsichord  in  Italy.  What 
took  place  at  Rome  between  Handel  and  Corelli  still 
more  forcibly  proves  that  our  composer  was  stronger 
upon  the  violin  than  the  greatest  virtuoso  of  his  time. 
Mainwaring  relates*  that  Arcangelo  Corelli  had  great 
difficulty  in  playing  certain  very  bold  passages  in  Han- 
del's overtures,  and  that  the  latter,  who  was  unfortu- 
nately very  violent,  once  snatched  the  violin  out  of  his 
hand  and  played  it  himself  as  it  ought  to  be. 

Every  musical  faculty  was  carried  in  him  to  the  high- 
est point.  He  had  an  inexhaustible  memory.  Burney 
heard  him,  while  giving  lessons  to  Mrs.  Gibber,  play  a 
jig  from  the  overture  of  Siroe^  which  he  had  composed 
twenty  years  before.  It  has  been  seen  that  the  blindness 
with  which  he  was  attacked  in  1753  did  not  prevent  him 
from  playing  an  organ  concerto  at  every  performance  up 
to  the  termination  of  his  career,  and  he  did  not  always 
improvise.  He  sang  also  marvelously  well.  "  At  a  con- 
cert, at  the  house  of  Lady  Rich,  he  was  once  prevailed 
with  to  sing  a  slow  song,  which  he  did  in  such  a  manner, 
that  Farinelli,  who  was  present,  could  not  be  persuaded 
to  sing  after  him."f 

But  let  me  remind  the  young,  that  however  prodigious 
may  be  the  gifts  accorded  by  nature  to  her  elect,  they 
can  only  be  developed  and  brought  to  their  extreme  per- 
fection by  labor  and  study.  Michael  Angelo  was  some- 
times a  week  without  taking  off  his  clothes.  Like  him, 
and  like  all  the  other  kings  of  art,  Handel  was  very 
industrious.  He  worked  immensely  and  constantly. 
Hawkins  says  that  "  he  had  a  favorite  Rucker  harpsi- 
chord, every  key  of  which,  by  incessant  practice,  was 
hollowed  like  the  bowl  of  a  spoon."J  He  was  not  only 
one  of  the  most  gifted  of  musicians,  but  also  one  of  the 
most  learned.  All  competent  critics  admit  that  his  fu- 
gues prove  that  his  knowledge  was  consummate. 

*  Page  57.  +  Hawkins,  p.  918.  t  Id'^.m,  p.  312. 


422  LIFE     OF     HANDEL. 

It  is  a  singular  circumstance  in  his  life  that  his  genius 
gave  him  an  indirect  part  in  almost  all  the  events  of  his 
century.  His  music  was  required  to  celebrate  success- 
ively the  birth-day  of  Queen  Anne,  the  marriage  of  the 
Prince  of  Wales  (George  the  Third's  fathei-),  that  of  the 
Princess  Royal  to  the  Prince  of  Orange,  the  coronation 
of  George  the  Second,  the  burial  of  Queen  Caroline  (all 
great  events  in  those  days),  the  Peace  of  Utrecht  and 
that  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  and  the  victories  of  Culloden 
and  Dettingen.  To  this  day  there  is  no  great  public 
funeral  at  which  the  Dead  March  in  Saul  is  not  used  for 
the  purpose  of  impressing  the  mmd  with  the  solemnity 
of  the  occasion. 

One  may  be  disposed  to  say  that  Handel  himself  was 
a  great  conqueror.  Thanks  to  his  indefatigable  perse- 
verance, to  his  moral  courage,  to  his  indomitable  will, 
and  to  his  masterpieces,  he  succeeded,  before  he  died,  in 
dissipating  the  cabals  which  had  been  formed  against 
him,  in  crushing  folly,  and  in  conquering  universal  ad- 
miration. The  public  was  enlightened  by  the  torcli 
which  he  held  constantly  in  his  hand ;  the  impression 
which  he  left  behind  is  profound  and  living.  It  is  inef- 
faceable. There  is  no  other  similar  example,  in  the  his- 
tory of  art,  of  the  influence  which  one  man  can  exercise 
over  an  entire  people.  All  the  music  of  this  country  is 
Handelian,  and  if  the  English  love,  seek  after,  and  culti- 
vate, more  than  any  other  nation.  Bach,  Mozart,  Haydn, 
and  Beethoven,  they  are  indebted  to  the  author  of  The 
Messiah  for  it.  No  man  in  any  country  has  dominated 
more  generally  over  men's  minds  in  his  sphere  of  action, 
no  composer  ever  enjoyed  in  his  native  land  a  more  un- 
limited popularity. 

Let  me  say,  in  conclusion,  that  George  Frideric  Han- 
del has  done  honor  to  music,  at  least  as  much  by  the 
nobility  of  his  character  as  by  the  sublimity  of  his  genius. 
He  was  one  of  the  too  few  artists  who  uphold  the  dig- 


HIS     CHAKACTEK.  423 

nity  of  art  to  the  highest  possible  standard.  He  was  the 
incarnation  of  honesty ;  the  unswerving  rigidity  of  his 
conduct  captivates  even  those  who  do  not  take  liini  for  a 
model.  His  character  reminds  one  of  our  Bernard  Pal- 
issy.  Both  were  artists  in  all  the  grandeur  of  the  word ; 
both  worked  ceaselessly  for  improvement  without  ever 
feeling  weary ;  both  were  virtuous,  pure,  the  slaves  of 
duty,  proud,  and  intrepid  ;  the  most  terrible  adversities 
could  not  compel  them  to  pass  through  the  fire  to  Mo- 
loch ;  their  love  of  good  was  as  unconquerable  as  their 
will ;  they  were  no  mere  puppets  of  the  world  ;  and 
they  died  at  their  posts,  working  to  the  supreme  hour 
of  their  lives,  leaving  behind  them  a  luminous  track  of 
splendid  things  and  noble  exam^^les.  These  are  heroes 
indeed.  These  are  the  statues  for  our  Pantheon  ;  statues 
molded  in  bronze  by  the  hand  of  the  Great  Artisan  him- 
self, for  the  eternal  delight  and  instruction  of  humanity. 


APPENDIX. 


APPENDIX    A. 

THE     SMITH    COLLECTION". 

This  collection,  which  was  supposed  to  be  either  dispersed  or 
lost,  was  oflfered  for  sale  a  few  months  back,  and  has  become  the 
property  of  the  author  of  these  pages.  A  more  worthy  possessor 
might  have  obtained  it,  but  not  one  who  would  appreciate  it  with 
greater  reverence.  Its  value  is  inestimable.  Out  of  the  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty  volumes  of  which  it  is  composed,  sixty  or  seventy 
are  the  very  books  which  Handel  used  to  conduct  his  operas  and 
oratorios,  and  which  he  bequeathed,  in  dying,  to  Christopher 
Smith,  his  pupil  and  secretary.  These  are,  in  great  part,  covered 
with  notes,  directions,  and  corrections  in  the  handwriting  of  Han- 
del himself,  such  as  cast  a  new  light  over  his  works.  Some  con- 
tain variations  and  airs  which  are  unedited.  An  analysis  of  these 
Handelian  volumes  will  be  found  in  the  Catalogue.  However, 
the  present  possessor  only  regards  himself  as  the  custodian  of 
these  precious  treasures,  and  they  are  at  the  disposal  of  all  mu- 
sicians who  wish  to  consult  them.  The  MSS.  of  great  men  can 
not  be  the  property  of  any  one  man  exclusively :  they  belong  to 
the  archives  of  that  humanity  which  they  glorify. 


APPENDIX    B.  , 

GERMAN  EDITION  OF  HANDEL. 

On  the  15th  of  August,  185G,  a  prospectus  was  published  in 
Germany,  announcing  a  complete  edition  of  the  works  of  Han- 
del, to  be  printed  by  Messrs.  Breitkopf  and  Hartel,  of  Leipsic. 
Dr.  Gervinus  and  Dr.  Chrysander,  with  MM.  Dehn,  Hauptmann, 
Breitkopf,  and  Hartel,  form  the  committee  of  direction.     I  earn- 


426  APPENDIX. 

estly  hope  that  all  friends  of  Art  will  regard  it  as  a  duty  to  sup- 
port an  enterprise  so  admirable  and  so  useful.  Dr.  Chrysander  is 
preparing  a  history  of  music  in  its  connection  with  the  life  of 
Handel,  which  will  serve  for  an  introduction  to  this  great  Ger- 
man edition. 

APPENDIX   C. 

HANDEL'S  VISIT  TO  ITALY. 

Mattheson  says  that  Handel  remained  at  the  Hamburg  theater 
four  or  five  years,  and  that  in  1708  he  composed  i^ormc^ *and 
Daphne;  that  in  1709  he  wrote  nothing;  that  he  then  had  an  op- 
portunity of  visiting  Italy  by  a  means  which  would  not  have  cost 
him  any  thing,  but  he  refused  ;  that  during  the  winter  of  1710  he 
produced  his  Agrippina  in  Venice,  at  the  theater  of  St.  John 
Chrysostome;  and  that  in  1717  he  was  in  Hanover.  According 
to  this,  Handel  did  not  quit  Hamburg  from  1703  to  1709;  and 
after  composing  Almira  and  Nero  1705,  he  waited  three  years  be- 
fore writing  Florinda  and  Daphne,  one  immediately  after  the 
other,  in  1708.  Finally,  he  could  only  have  visited  Italy  in  1710 ; 
having  refused  in  1709  to  take  advantage  of  the  opportunity  to 
go  there  without  expense. 

But  these  assertions  are  disproved  not  only  by  probabilities, 
but  by  express  dates  furnished  by  Handel  himself  In  Bucking- 
ham Palace  there  is  a  Dixit  Dominus  signed  "  Gr.  F.  Hendel, 
1707 — 4  d'Aprile,  Roma;"  a  Laudaie  pueri  signed  "  Gr.  F.  H.  il  8 
Sub,  1707,  Roma;"  and  the  Eesurreczione,  dated  "4  d'Aprile, 
1708."  Moreover,  there  is  in  the  possession  of  the  lady  of  Sir 
Benjamin  Hall  a  manuscript  trio  de  chambre,  "Se  tu  non  lasci 
amore,"  which  is  very  distinctly  signed  "  G.  F.  Hendel,  li  12  Lug- 
lio,  1708,  Napoh."  Finally,  it  is  certain  that  Handel  was  in  Lon- 
don during  the  winter  of  1710,  and  that  his  Rinaldo  was  pro- 
duced there  on  the  11th  of  February,  1711 ;  and  it  is  also  certain 
that  he  did  not  come  to  London  until  a  year  after  his  journey  to 
Italy.  If  we  had  not  the  incontestable  proofs  of  his  signatures 
at  Rome  and  Naples,  it  would  have  been  impossible  for  him  to 
have  made  the  journey  to  Italy,  and  to  be  at  London  in  1710,  if 
he  only  quitted  Hamburg  during  that  year.  It  should  not  be  for- 
gotten that  Mattheson's  too  short  notice  of  Handel  was  written 
in  1740  (thirty  years  after  the  epoch  of  which  he  treats) ;  it  was 


HANDEL'S    VISIT    TO    ITALY.  427 

evidently  written  from  memory,  and  very  rapidly,  and  after  the 
first  few  years  he  knows  nothing,  for  he  jumps  from  Hamburg  to 
Venice,  in  1710,  and  from  Venice  to  Hanover  in  1717. 

The  three  English  writers  who  come  after  Mattheson  (and  who 
only  are  of  any  authority — Mainwaring,  Hawkins,  and  Burney) 
were  ignorant  of  the  authentic  dates,  and  seem  to  have  been  lost 
in  doubt.  According  to  Mainwaring,  Handel  produced  Almira 
in  Hamburg  when  he  was  fourteen  years  old,  that  is  to  say,  dur- 
ing the  year 1698 

He  leaves  him  in  that  city  "four  years,"  until  .  .  .  1702 
"  "  in  Italy  "  six  years,"  until  .  .  .  1708 
"  "  in  Hanover  "  one  year,"  until  .  .  1709 
If  Handel  wrote  Almira  at  Hamburg,  at  the  age  of  fourteen 
years,  he  must  have  done  so  (according  to  Mainwaring)  in  1698, 
since  he  puts  the  date  of  his  birth  at  1685  ;  but  1698  is  the  date 
at  which  Mainwaring  himself  sends  him  to  Berlin,  like  a  child  as 
he  was,  under  the  care  of  one  of  his  father's  friends.  He  also 
places  the  quarrel  with  Mattheson  before  Almira  ;  that  is  to  say, 
at  the  age  of  thirteen  or  fourteen  years.  Now  we  know  very 
well  that  Handel  (hke  all  who  are  privileged  by  Nature)  was  a 
man  when  still  very  young,  and  that  he  showed  himself  bold  and 
full  of  spirit ;  but  admitting  all  this,  it  is  not  a  lad  of  thirteen  or 
fourteen  years  who  would  be  likely  to  usurp  the  rights  of  another 
under  such  circumstances.  Another  thing :  it  is  Mattheson  (who 
was  born  in  1681)  who  relates  the  journey  to  Lubec,  and  the 
famous  condition  about  marrying  the  organist's  daughter.  But  if 
liis  companion  had  been  only  fourteen  years  old,  while  he  himself 
was  seventeen,  Mattheson,  who  was  a  jocular  writer,  would  not 
have  failed  to  note  the  amusing  situation  of  two  candidates  of  that 
age  being  called  upon  to  fulfill  such  an  obligation. 

And  again,  if  Handel  had  written  four  operas  at  Hamburg — 
Almira^  Nero,  Daphne,  and  Florinda — between  the  ages  of  four- 
teen and  eighteen,  can  it  be  supposed  that  during  the  six  years 
of  his  sojourn  in  Italy  (from  eighteen  to  twenty-four),  when  his 
reputation  was  constantly  increasing,  he  produced  only  two  op- 
eras, Roderigo  and  Agrippina,  two  short  oratorios,  the  Resurrec- 
zione  and  II  Trionfo  del  Tempo,  and  one  serenata,  Galatea  f 
Every  thing  goes  to  establish  the  fact  that  Mainwaring  was  in 
error. 

As  for  Hawkins,  he  also  states  that  Handel  produced  Almira 
at  Hamburg  in  1698,  when  he  was  fourteen  years  old,  and  that  he 


428  APPENDIX. 

remained  three  years  in  Hamburg,  until  1701.  Moreover  (ac- 
cording to  liis  account),  Handel  told  him  that  he  was  not  twenty- 
years  old  when  he  arived  in  Hanover,  after  his  journey  into  Italy  ; 
which  brings  us  to  1703.  He  also  fixes  the  period  of  his  arrival 
in  London  at  1710. 

According  to  this  calculation,  Handel  remained  six  years  and 
a  half  at  Hanover  before  coming  to  England.  But  no  one  has  as- 
serted that  he  produced  any  tiling  in  Hanover,  and  it  can  not  be 
credited  that  a  young  man,  endowed  with  a  most  pregnant 
genius,  could  have  Hved  for  more  than  a  lustrum  without  produ- 
cing something.  This  chronology,  besides,  fixes  the  journey  to 
Italy  at  from  1701  to  1703,  while  the  manuscripts  signed  at 
Rome  and  Naples  are  dated  1707  and  1708.  On  the  other  hand, 
Mattheson  declares  positively  that  Handel  came  to  Hamburg  "  in 
the  month  of  July,  1703,"  and  he  transcribes  some  Unes  of  a  let- 
ter which  Handel  wrote  to  him  from  that  city  "  on  the  18th  of 
March,  1704,"  and  requesting  him  to  return  speedily  from  Hol- 
land, wliither  he  had  gone  upon  a  journey.  Hawkins  pretends  to 
have  been  told  by  Handel  himself  that  he  was  not  twenty  years 
old  when  he  arrived  at  Hamburg,  "  after  his  journey  into  Italy  ;"• 
but  the  manuscripts,  positively  dated  ''  Rome,  1707"  and  "  1708," 
give  him  twenty-two  or  twenty-three  years  before  he  went  to 
Hanover.  Hawkins  is  a  sincere  writer,  whom  I  would  not  de- 
preciate on  any  account,  and  he  certainly  deserves  confidence  for 
his  laborious  compilations ;  but  it  is  necessary  to  examine  what 
he  says.  Like  Mainwaring,  he  wrote  somewhat  too  quickly,  and 
made  many  mistakes  even  in  his  personal  statements. 

The  next  witness  is  Burney.  He  had  read  Mattheson,  but  he 
knew,  besides,  that  the  pupil  of  Sackau,  after  a  journey  through 
Italy,  Germany,  and  Holland,  and  a  residence  in  Hanover,  ar- 
rived in  London  about  the  end  of  1710.  By  way  of  conciliating 
he  effects  a  compromise.  He  brings  him  to  the  Hanseatic  town 
exactly  in  1703  ;  takes  him  to  Florence  in  the  middle  of  1708 ; 
places  in  1709  the  tour  to  Venice,  Naples,  and  Rome  ;  and  keeps 
him  at  Hanover  only  long  enough  to  accept  the  office  of  chapel- 
master  to  the  elector  on  the  condition  of  returning  as  soon  as  he 
had  seen  England.  But,  apart  from  the  contradiction  which  the 
signatures  at  Rome  and  Naples  give  to  this,  it  is  evident  that 
Burney's  statement  is  not  rational.  How  could  the  young  Saxon, 
already  celebrated,  visit  Rome,  Venice,  and  Naples — the  three 
great  capitals  of  music — and  compose  an  opera,  a  serenata,  and 


HANDEL'S    VISIT    TO    ITALY.  429 

two  oratorios  in  less  tlian  a  year?  How  could  he  make  his  ap- 
pearance in  Hanover,  and  then  leave  immediately  ?  Burney  him- 
self says  (agreeing  on  this  point  with  Mainwaring  and  Hawkins), 
"he  came  to  London,  in  compliance  with  an  invitation  from 
several  English  noblemen  with  whom  he  had  made  acquaintance 
at  the  court  of  Hanover."  He  must  necessarily  have  remained  at 
this  court  for  at  least  six  months,  if  not  "  a  year,"  as  Mainwaring 
has  it,  in  order  to  receive  the  "  invitations'  which  determined  him 
to  make  the  journey ;  besides  which,  it  is  not  liively  that  the  elec- 
tor would  deprive  himself  immediately  of  a  chapel-master  whom 
he  had  attached  to  himself. 

The  statements  of  M.  Fetis,  in  the  article  on  Handel,  in  his 
Biographie  Universelle  des  Musiciens,  now  remain  to  be  discussed. 

According  to  him,  after  Almira  and  Nero  had  been  produced 
at  Hamburg,  Handel  went,  during  the  earlier  part  of  1707,  to 
-Rome,  where  he  remained  some  time  beyond  the  8th  of  April, 
1708 — the  day  on  which  the  Resurreczione  appeared  ;  then  he  re- 
turned to  Hamburg,  and  Florinda  and  Daphne  were  produced 
there  in  1708.  In  the  beginning  of  1709  he  returned  to  Italy, 
and  in  the  same  year  he  produced  Roderigo  at  Florence,  Agrip- 
pina  at  Venice,  and  II  Trionfo  del  Tempo  at  Eome.  He  did  not 
leave  Eome  for  Naples  until  1710;  he  wrote  Acige  e  Galatea  at 
Naples ;  then  he  passed  through  many  other  towns  in  Italy,  seek- 
ing for  employment ;  but  not  finding  any,  he  returned  to  Ger- 
many, and,  stopping  on  his  way  at  Hanover,  he  there  engaged 
himself  as  chapel-master,  but  set  out  again  immediately,  ''  be- 
cause he  wished  to  visit  London ;"  and,  finally,  having  visited  his 
mother  at  Halle,  and  having  passed  through  Dusseldorf  and  Hol- 
land, he  arrived  in  London  in  the  month  of  December  of  the  same 
year,  1710. 

If,  however,  we  consider  the  length  of  the  journey  which  M. 
Fetis  makes  Handel  perform  in  less  than  a  year,  it  must  be  ad- 
mitted than  even  in  these  days  of  steam-engines  and  railways  it 
would  not  be  easy  to  travel  so  quickly.  Mr.  Townsend,  in  the 
course  of  his  researches  as  to  the  great  composer's  visit  to  Dub- 
lin, found  this  note  in  the  Qentlemaris  Magazine  for  February, 
1742  : — "  The  Duke  of  Devonshire  [he  was  then  Viceroy  of  Ire- 
land] arrived  in  London  on  the  20th,  having  occupied  five  days 
in  the  journey  between  Dublin  and  London."  Mr.  Townsend, 
who  quoted  this  note  in  order  to  show  what  was  "  the  rate  of 
viceregal  traveling  in  those  days,"  adds,  from  an  Irish  journal, 


430  APPENDIX. 

that  "  at  Parkgate  the  duke  took  post,  there  being  sixteen  re- 
lays of  horses  on  the  road  for  his  grace." — {Faulkner's  Journal, 
February  16th  to  20th,  1742.)  When  viceroys,  with  a  favorable 
wind  and  sixteen  relays  of  horses,  required  five  days  to  travel 
from  Dublin  to  London,  a  poor  musician  like  Handel  could  not,  a 
quarter  of  a  century  before,  have  traveled  over  a  part  of  Italy, 
Germany,  and  Holland,  and  have  crossed  the  sea  twice,  in  less 
than  a  year,  and  have  composed  the  scores  of  four  works  into  the 
bargain.  Moreover,  how  can  we  credit  the  long  excursion  of  a 
year  and  a  half  into  Italy,  made  during  his  stay  at  Hamburg, 
from  1707  to  1708  ?  Can  it  be  possible  that  Mattheson  was  ig- 
norant of  that  journey,  or  that,  knowing  it,  he  passed  it  over  in 
silence,  when  he  did  not  even  forget  the  little  excursion  to  Lu- 
bec  ?  But,  in  fact,  we  know  of  a  certainty  that  Handel  visited 
Naples  in  1708,  and  not  in  1710.  These  objections  serve  to  con- 
vince me  that  M.  Fetis  was  mistaken. 

After  what  has  been  said,  if  the  different  elements  furnished  by 
the  three  English  authors,  and  by  authentic  dates,  be  combined, 
the  chronological  order  which  I  have  adopted  is  the  result.  It 
reconciles  many  of  their  assertions,  it  satisfies  the  reason  upon 
points  as  to  which  history  gives  no  certainty,  and  it  agrees  very 
well  with  all  the  ascertained  facts. 


APPENDIX  D. 

LONDON  THEATERS  IN  THE  OLDEN  TIME. 

It  may  interest  the  reader  to  have  some  information  concern- 
ing the  different  theaters,  of  which  mention  is  made  in  the  course 
of  this  work. 

The  Theatrical  Register  (IIS.,  in  4to.)  notes  that  "  in  1704,  to 
advance  the  grand  undertaking  of  a  neio  theater^  thirty  persons 
of  quahty  subscribed  each  £100,  and  Queen  Anne  then  granted 
a  license  to  Sir  John  Vanburgh  and  Mr.  Congreve  to  act  operas 
and  plays  in  the  Haymarket  Theater."  This  great  theater  in  the 
Haymarket,  called  the  King's  or  Queen's  Theater,  according  to 
the  sex  of  the  reigning  sovereign  (and  now  called  Her  Majesty's 
Theater),  was  opened  "  on  the  9th  of  April,  1705."  (Burg.) 

The  opening  of  a  season  for  English  operas  at  the  new  theater 
in  the  Haymarket,  which  stood  opposite  to  the  ''  King's  Theater," 


LONDON     THEATERS.  4»31 

is  announced  for  the  IGth  in  the  Daily  Post  of  the  2(1  of  Novem- 
ber, 1732,  '^  with  a  new  opera,  Britannia,  set  to  music  after  the 
Italian  manner,  by  Mr.  Lampe."  The  "  new  theater  in  the  Hay- 
market"  of  the  Daily  Post,  also  called  the  "  Little  Theater  in  the 
Haymarket"  by  other  periodicals  of  the  time,  was  built  by  Pot- 
ter, and  opened  on  the  29th  of  December,  1720.  It  stood  oppo- 
site the  '•'  King's  Theater,"  very  nearly  on  the  site  of  the  present 
Haymarket  Theater.  Potter's  theater  was  pulled  down  in  1820, 
and  was.  replaced  by  the  present  Haymarket  Theater,  which  was 
built  by  Nash  during  the  same  year.  fSee  Timbs's  Curiosities  of 
London,  p.  718.) 

The  Theater  of  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields,  also  called  the  Duke's 
Theater,  was  one  of  the  most  ancient  in  London.  It  was  origin- 
ally a  Tennis  Court ;  was  opened  as  a  Theater  by  Sir  William 
Davenant,  in  16G2,  and  was  refitted  and  reopened  in  1695.  (Mal- 
colm's London,  and  Timbs's  Curiosities.)  An  Acis  and  Galatea^ 
by  J.  Eccles,  was  produced  there  in  1704.  (See  Theatrical  Regis- 
ter.) The  theater  was  pulled  down  and  rebuilt  by  Christopher 
Eich,  a  lawyer,  who  died  before  it  was  completed,  and  it  was 
opened  by  his  son,  John  Rich,  the  celebrated  harlequin  and  man- 
ager, in  1714.  {Daily  Post,  and  Malcolm.)  This  theater  no  longer 
exists. 

The  same  John  Rich  it  was  who  built  Co  vent  G-arden  Theater 
by  subscription,  and  opened  it  on  the  7th  of  December,  1732, 
with  Congreve's  comedy,  The  Way  of  the  World.  (Malcolm.)  He 
managed  it  until  the  27th  of  April,  1759,  when  he  sold  his  privi- 
lege to  O'Connell  Thornton  for  £40,000.  {London  Magazine, 
April,  1759.)  This  theater  was  burned  in  the  month  of  September, 
1808,  and  the  new  one,  which  was  built  by  Sir  R.  Smirke,  was 
opened  on  the  18th  of  September,  1809.  {Biographia  Dramatical 
This  theater  was  destroyed  by  fire  on  the  5th  of  March,  1856. 

Drury  Lane  is  the  most  ancient  of  the  existing  London  thea- 
ters. The  theater  founded  in  1663  was  pulled  down  in  1791, 
and,  having  been  rebuilt  by  Holland,  was  reopened  on  the  12th 
of  March,  1794,  "  with  a  grand  selection  of  sacred  music  from 
Handel's  works,  commencing  with  the  Coronation  Anthem." 
{Biographia  Dramatica.)  This  theater  was  burned  down  on  the 
24th  of  February,  1809,  and  was  replaced  by  the  magnificent 
construction  of  Benjamin  Wyatt,  the  plan  of  which  was  taken 
from  the  Bordeaux  Theater.  This  was  opened  on  the  12th  of 
October,  1812,  and  is  now  standing. 


432  APPENDIX. 

APPENDIX  E. 

THE  SONS  OF  THE  CLERGY. 

See  Burney.  In  1655,  the  Bishop  of  Chester  preached  a  char- 
ity sermon  at  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  in  favor  of  the  poor  families  of 
the  clergy.  These  sermons,  followed  by  a  collection,  were  con- 
tinued ;  and  in  1678  the  Institution  of  the  Sons  of  the  Clergy 
was  founded  by  royal  charter,  for  the  education  of  the  sons  of 
necessitous  ministers.  The  daughters  were  apparently  not  worth 
caring  for.  In  1709,  music  was  added  to  the  annual  sermon  at 
St.  Paul's  for  the  first  time ;  and  thenceforward  the  custom  has 
always  been  observed.  (Lysons.)  The  compositions  of  Handel, 
and  especially  the  Utrecht  Te  Deutn  and  the  overture  of  Esther^ 
provided  for  more  than  half  a  century  aU  the  music  for  these  char- 
itable concerts.  In  the  works  of  Aaron  Hill,  there  is  an  "Ode  on 
the  Occasion  of  Mr.  Handel's  great  Te  Deum,  at  the  Feast  of  the 
Sons  of  the  Clergy,  on  February  1st,  1732."  The  poet  says,  that 
the  Spirit  of  God,  which  directly  inspired  the  songs  of  David, 
and  has  since  been  concealed,  has  reappeared  in  the  soul  of  Han- 
del 

APPENDIX  F. 

THE  HARMOXIOUS  BLACKSMITH. 

While  this  book  was  passing  through  the  press,  Mr.  Robert 
Lonsdale  has  brought  under  my  notice  a  document  connected 
with  the  history  of  The  Harmonius  Blacksmith.  In  a  volume  en- 
titled Echos  du  Temps  passe,  Recueil  de  Chansons,  Noels,  etc.,  du 
12'"«  au  18"«  Siecle  (4*°)  published  at  Paris  (N.D.)  by  Mr.  Weker- 
lin,  there  is  a  song  by  Clement  Marot,  "  Plus  ne  suis  ce  que  j'ai 
ete,"  of  which  the  air  is,  note  for  note,  the  melody  of  2%e  Har- 
monious Blacksmith.  "  This  piece,"  says  the  publisher,  "  of  which 
the  music  is  certainly  posterior  to  the  poetry,  is  to  be  found  in  the 
Choix  de  Chansons  a  commencer  de  Thibaut  de  Champagne,  by 
Moncrif." 

In  comphance  with  my  request,  my  old  and  excellent  friend, 
M.  Casimir  Gide  has  obtained  in  this  matter  the  following  ex- 
planation from  Mr.  Wekerhn  himself:  "  The  collection  of  Moncrif 
(one  volume  in  12mo,  printed  in  1757)  is  exceedingly  rare.     I 


THE    IIAKMONIOUS    BLACKSMITH.  433 

only  know  two  copies  of  it ;  one  of  which  is  at  the  library  in  the 
Eue  Richelieu,  and  the  other  in  a  private  collection.  It  is  beyond 
a  doubt  that  the  theme  of  '  Plus  ne  suis'  is  borrowed  from  the 
Pieces  de  Clavecin,  by  Handel,  and  that  Moncrif  committed  a 
fault  in  not  affixing  the  name  of  the  author.  Perhaps  he  was 
himself  ignorant  of  it ;  for  he  was  not  very  well  acquainted  with 
music.  I  only  made  tliis  discovery  after  the  publication  of  njy 
book,  otherwise  I  should  not  have  failed  to  mention  it  in  my 
notes." 

The  Choix  de  Chansons,  by  Moncrif,  can  not  then  supply  any 
argument  to  those  who  wish  to  deny  that  Handel  was  the  real 
author  of  the  piece  now  called  The  Harmonious  Blachsmith.  But 
in  the  mean  time  according  to  new  information  communicated 
by  Dr.  Rimbault,  it  would  seem  that  Powell  had  nothing  to  do 
with  the  affair.  Dr.  Rimbault  has  read  somewhere  (but  where  he 
can  not  recollect),  that  The  Harmonious  Blacksmith  was  published 
for  the  first  time  under  that  title  by  Lintott,  a  publisher  of  music 
at  Bath,  at  the  end  of  the  last  century.  When  Lintott  was  asked 
why  he  had  so  baptized  it,  he  repHed,  "  Oh  I  my  father  was  a 
blacksmith,  and  this  was  one  of  his  favorite  airs."  It  may  there- 
fore be  that  the  popular  tradition  is  founded  upon  the  filial  fancy 
of  Mr.  Lintott.  There  is  one  thing  certain,  which  is,  that  the 
tradition  has  no  really  authentic  basis,  and  that  Handel's  famous 
mo7xeau  for  the  harpsichord  has  no  particular  designation  in  the 
cotemporaneous  editions  of  Suites  de  Pieces,  in  which  it  origin- 
ally appeared.  It  is  not  less  certain  that  neither  Walsh,  nor 
Randall  his  successor,  ever  engraved  it  separately  under  the  name 
which  now  distinguishes  it ;  and,  finally,  that  Birchall,  who  pub- 
hshed  it  before  Lintott  did,  called  it  merely  "  Handel's  fifth  favor- 
ite lesson  from  his  first  set." 

One  word  more.  Dr.  Crotch,  who  discovered  among  the  works 
of  some  twenty  or  thirty  composers  nearly  all  the  music  of  which 
Handel  passed  himself  ofi"  as  the  author,  has  also  discovered  the 
melody  which  Powell  is  said  to  have  sung,  in  a  book,  with  the 
name  of  Wagenseil.  Wagenseil,  who  was  a  harpsichordist  of 
Vienna,  was  about  the  same  age  as  Handel,  within  three  years. 
He  was  bom  in  1688,  and  was  certainly  a  man  of  incomparable 
modesty  and  disinterestedness,  for  he  never  claimed  as  his  own 
the  piece  which  the  composer  of  oratorios  had  audaciously  stolen 
from  him ;  and  that  in  spite  of  the  European  popularity  which  it 
speedily  gained,  and  of  which  he  was  the  witness  for  nearly  sixty 

19 


434  APPENDIX. 

years.  Bat  virtue  has  always  its  recompense.  Mi-.  Richard 
Clark  has  rendered  unto  Ccesar  that  which  is  Caesar's,  for  he  has 
engraved  the  piece  under  its  true  title,  "77ie  Harmonious  Black- 
smith, a  favorite  air  by  Wagenseil,  with  variations  by  G.  F.  Han- 
del, newly  arranged  for  the  piano,  organ,  or  haip,  by  Richard 
Clark."     After  this,  Handel  can  never  hold  up  his  head  again. 


APPENDIX  G. 

THE  RE-ENGAGEMENT  OE   SENESINO. 

Two  letters,  written  by  Handel,  upon  tliis  matter,  are  to  be 
found  in  the  correspondence  of  the  two  Colnians.  They  are  in 
French.  The  original  of  the  second  was  offered  for  sale  among  a 
collection  of  autographs,  in  1856,  and  was  purchased  for  £12  by 
the  Sacred  Harmonic  Society,  who  have  kindly  furnished  me  with 
a  fac-simile.  It  is  given  word  for  word.  The  Colman  to  whom 
it  is  addressed  was  Francis  Colman,  the  author  of  the  Opei^a 
Eegister,  and  father  of  George  Colman,  the  dramatic  author : 

"  A  Monsieur,  Monsieur  Colman,  Eavoyk  Extraordinaire  de  S. 

M.   Britannique,  aupres  de   S.  A.   R.  le  Due   de    Toscane  d, 

Florence. 

"  Londres,  ce  \~  de  Juin,  1730. 

"  Monsieur — Depuis  que  j'ay  eu  I'honneur  de  vous  ecrire,  on 
a  trouve  moyen  d' engager  de  nouveau  la  Signora  Merighi,  et 
comme  c'est  une  voix  de  contr'alto  il  nolis  conviendroit  prc- 
sentement  que  la  femme  qu'on  doit  engager  en  Italie  filt  un 
soprano.  J'tcris  aussi  avec  cet  ordinaire  a  Mr.  Swinny  pour  cet 
efFet,  en  luy  recommandant  en  mcme  terns  que  la  femme  qu'il 
pourra  vous  proposer  fasse  le  Rolle  d'homme  aussi  bien  que  celuy 
de  femme.  II  y  a  heu  de  croire  que  vous  n'avez  pas  encore  pris 
d' engagement  pour  un  femme  contr'alto,  mais  en  cas  que  cela  soit 
fait,  il  faudrait  s'y  en  tenir. 

"  Je  prends  la  liberts  de  vous  prier  de  nouveau  qu'il  ne  soit  pas 
fuit  mention  dans  les  contr2its  du  premier,  seoond  ou  troisi^me 
Rolle,  puisque  cela  nous  gene  dans  le  choix  du  Drama,  et'  est 
d'ailleurs  sajet  a  de  grands  inconveniens.  Nous  espcrons  aussi 
d'avoir  par  votre  assistance  un  homme  et  une  femme  pour  la 
saison  prochaine,  qui  commence  avec  le  mois  d'Octobr,  de  I'annce 


THE    EE-ENGAGEMENT    OF    BENESINO.       435 

coni-ante  et  finit  le  mois  de  Juillet,  1731,*  et  nous  attendons  avec 
impatienc-e  d'en  apprcndre  des  nouvelles  pour  en  informer  la  Cour. 
'' II  ne  me  reste  qu'a  vous  rtiti'rer  mes  assurances  de  I'obliga- 
tion  particnlii>re  que  je  vous  aurai  de  votre  bonte  envers  moi  a  cet 
egard,  qui  ai  Flionneur  d'etre,  avec  afifection  respectueuse, 
"  Monsieur, 
"  Votre  tres-humble  et  tres-obc'issant  serviteur, 

"  George  Frideric  HANDEL."t 

Owen  Swiny,  the  former  manager  of  the  Hnymarket,  then 
happened  to  be  in  Italy  with  Lord  Boyne  and  Mr.  Walpole, 
whom  he  accompanied.  He  wrote  to  Colman,  from  Bologna, 
on  the  12  th  of  July,  mentioning  letters  which  he  had  received 
from  Handel,  and  proceeds  : 

''  I  find  that  Senesino,  or  Carestini,  are  desired  at  one  thou- 
sand two  hundred  guineas  each,  if  they  are  to  be  hacj.  I  am 
sure  that  Carestini  is  engaged  at  Milan,  and  has  been  so  for 
many  months  past ;  and  I  hear  that  Senesino  is  engaged  for  the 
ensuing  carnival  at  Rome.  If  we  can  neither  get  Senesino  nor 
Carestini,  then  Mr.  Handel  desires  to  have  a  man  soprano,  and 

*  These  were,  perhaps,  the  terras  usually  adopted  in  contracts ;  but,  in  point  of 
fact,  the  theatrical  season  did  not  commence  before  November,  and  concluded  in 
May  or  June. 

t  Translation  op  the  Letter. 
"  To  Mr.  Colman.,  Envoy  Exlraordinary  of  his  Britannic  Majesty  at  the  Court  of 
S.  A.  R.  the  Duke  of  Tuscany,  at  Florence. 

"  London,  37^-  of  June,  1730. 

"  SiE — Since  I  last  had  the  honor  of. writing  to  you,  means  have  been  found  to 
re-engage  Signora  Merighi,  and  as  she  has  a  contralto  voice,  it  would  now  suit  us 
if  the  woman  to  be  engaged  in  Italy  were  a  soprano.  I  am  also  writing  by  this 
post  to  Mr.  Swiny  to  the  same  effect,  recommending  him,  at  the  same  time,  that 
the  woman  whom  he  may  propose  to  you  shall  he  able  to  play  a  man's  part  as  well 
as  a  woman's.  It  is  probable  that  you  may  not  yet  have  engaged  a  contralto 
woman,  but  in  case  you  have  done  so  we  must  be  satisfied,  and  not  engage  any 
other. 

"  I  take  the  liberty  of  asking  you  again,  to  make  no  mention  in  the  contracts  of 
the  first,  second,  or  third  parts,  because  that  hampers  us  in  the  choice  of  the 
drama,  and  is,  moreover,  the  subject  of  great  inconvenience.  We  hope  also  to 
obtain,  through  your  assistance,  a  man  and  a  woman  for  next  season,  which  be- 
gins in'  the  month  of  October  in  the  current  year,  and  finishes  in  the  month  of 
July,  1T31 ;  and  we  are  impatiently  expecting  some  news  about  it  in  order  to  in- 
form the  court. 

"  It  only  remains  for  me  to  reiterate  the  assurances  of  the  personal  obligation 
which  I  am  under  for  your  kindness  to  me  in  this  respect,  who  have  the  honor  to 
be,  with  respectful  affection,  sir, 

"  Your  very  humble  and  very  obedient  servant, 
"Geoeqe  Feideeio  Handel." 


436  APPENDIX. 

a  woman  contralto,  and  that  the  price  for  both  must  not  exceed 
one  thousand,  or  eleven  hundred  guineas ;  and  that  the  persons 
must  set  out  for  London  at  the  latter  end  of  August,  or  beginning 
of  September,  and  that  no  engagement  must  be  made  with  one, 
without  a  certainty  of  getting  the  other." 

Senesino  and  Carestini  were  each  of  them,  therefore,  as  good 
as  a  woman  and  a  man.  The  following  letter  informs  us  of  the 
result  of  these  negotiations  : 

"  A  Londres,  f  |  de  Octob'",  1730. 

"  Monsieur — Je  viens  de  recevoir  I'honneur  de  votre  lettre  du 
22  du  passee,  N.  S.,  par  laquelle  je  vois  les  raisons  qui  vous  ont 
determine  d'engager  S*".  Sinesino  sur  le  pied  de  quatorze  cent 
gliinees,  a  quoy  nous  acquieseons,  et  je  vous  fais  mes  tres- 
humbles  remerciments  des  peines  que  vous  avez  bien  voulu 
prendre  dans  cette  affaire.  Le  dit  S^  Sinesino  est  arrive  icy  il 
y  a  12  jours  et  Je  n'ai  pas  manque,  sur  la  presentation  de  votre 
lettre,  de  luy  payer  a  compte  de  son  salaire  les  cent  ghinees  que 
vous  luy  aviez  promis.  Pour  ce  qui  est  de  la  Sig"^*.  Pisani,  nous 
ne  I'avons  pas  eue,  et  comme  la  saison  est  fort  avancee  et  qu'on 
commencera  bientot  les  operas,  nous  nous  passerons  cette  annee- 
cy  d'une  autre  femme  d'ltalie,  ayant  deja  dispose  les  operas  pour 
la  compagnie  que  nous  avons  presentement. 

"  Je  vous  suis  pourtant  tres-oblige  d' avoir  songe  a  la  Sig^'*. 
Madalena  Pieri,  en  cas  que  nous  eussions  eu  absolument  besoin 
d'une  autre  femme  qui  acte  en  homme ;  mais  nous  nous  conten- 
terous  des  cinq  pcrsonnages,  ayant  actuellemenfc  trouve  de  quoy 
suppleer  au  reste. 

"  C'est  a  votre  genereuse  assistance  que  la  Cour  et  la  Noblesse 
devi'ont  en  partie  la  satisfaction  d'avoir  presentement  une  com- 
pagnie a  leur  gre,  en  sorte  qu'il  ne  me  reste  qu'a  vous  en  mar- 
quer  mes  sentiments  parti  cullers  de  gratitude  et  a  vous  assurer 
de  I'attention  tres-respectueuse  avec  laquelle  j'ay  I'honneur  d'etre, 
Monsieur,        Votre  tres-humble  et  tres-obeissant  serviteur, 

"  George  Frideric  Handel." 

"  A  Monsieur,  Monsieur  Colman,  Envoye  Extraordinaire 
de  sa  Majeste  Britannique  aupres  de  son  Altesse  Roy  ale 
le  Grand  Due  de  Toscane  a  Florence."* 


"  Sib— I  had  the  honor  of  receiving  your  letter  on  the  22d  of  last  month  (N.  S.), 
by  which  I  perceive  the  reasons  which  have  Induced  you  to  engage  Sr.  Sinesino 


DEL    PO'S    LETTER.  487 

These  letters  are  not  merely  interesting  on  account  of  their  sig- 
nature, but  because  they  furnish  proof  that  Handel,  in  reviving 
the  opera,  had  the  special  protection  of  the  king  and  (more  still) 
of  a  portion  of  the  nobility.  The  envoy  extraordinary  of  his 
Britannic  majesty  would  certainly  not  have  busied  himself  about 
making  engagements  for  "  first,  second,  and  third  parts,"  if  he 
had  not  received  an  order  to  that  effect ;  and  the  impressario  of 
the  Haymarket,  if  he  had  not  been  recommended,  would  not 
have  written  to  an  embassador,  "we  are  impatiently  expecting 
some  news  in  order  to  inform  the  court."  If  the  nobility  had  al- 
ready broke  with  him,  Handel  would  not  have  made  use  of  the 
expression,  "  the  court  and  the  nobility  will  partly  owe  to  you 
the  satisfaction  of  having  now  a  company  to  their  taste." 


APPENDIX  H. 

DEL  PO'S   LETTER. 

The  political  gossips  of  the  time  had  a  mania  for  seeing  politics 
in  every  thing,  and  discovered,  in  the  simplest  things,  the  deepest 
and  most  recondite  allusions.  The  Gentleman's  Magazine  for 
August,  1732,  borrows  from  Tlie  Craftsman  of  the  12th  of  August, 
the  following  satire,  in  the  form  of  a  letter,  which  is  quoted  "  as 
one  instance  to  what  absurdity  pedantry  of  pohticks  can  lead  even 
sober  and  experienced  persons  in  private  life  :" — "  Sir,  being  in- 
formed that  some  miisick  of  Bononcini  was  to  be  performed  at 

for  1400  guineas,  to  which  -we  agree  ;  and  I  tender  you  ray  very  humhle  thanks  for 
the  trouble  -which  you  have  kindly  taken  in  this  matter.  The  aforesaid  Sv.  Si- 
nesino  arrived  here  twelve  days  ago,  and  I  did  not  fail,  on  the  presentation  of 
j-our  letter,  to  pay  him,  on  account  of  his  salary,  the  hundred  guineas  which  you 
promised  him.  As  for  Sigra.  Pisani,  we  have  not  yet  heard  her  ;  and  as  the  sea- 
son is  much  advanced,  and  the  operas  will  soon  commence,  we  will  dispense  for 
this  year  with  another  woman  from  Italy,  having  already  cast  the  operas  for  the 
company  which  we  now  have. 

"I  am,  nevertheless,  very  much  obliged  to  you  for  having  thought  of  Signora 
Madalena  Fieri,  in  case  we  should  absolutely  require  another  woman  to  act  the 
part  of  a  man;  but  we  shall  content  ourselves  with  five  persionagcs,  having  ac- 
tually found  enough  to  supply  the  rest. 

"  It  is  to  your  generous  assistance  that  the  court  and  nobility  will  partly  owe 
the  satisfaction  of  having  now  a  company  to  their  taste;  and  it  only  remains  for 
me  to  express  to  you  my  own  sentiments  of  gratitude,  and  to  assure  yon  of  the 
very  respectful  attention  with  which  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  etc., 

"  Geobge  Feidekio  Handel. 

*'  To  Mr.  Colman,  etc." 


438  APPENDIX. 

the  Opera-house,  I  went  to  see  it ;  but,  being  disappointed,  retired 
to  a  friend's  house,  where  happened  to  be  a  mixed  company, 
whose  conversation  turned  upon  the  subject.  One  of  the  com- 
pany took  out  of  his  pocket  a  Courant  of  June  9,  and  read  the 
letter  of  Aureho  del  Po.  A  fat,  elderly  gentleman  started  up  with 
some  emotion.  '  How  is  this,  sir  ?'  says  he.  '  Pray  read  it  once 
more.'  The  other  did  so,  and  while  he  was  reading  it,  the  fat 
gentleman  at  every  word  would  cry,  '  Observe^  ay,  pray  observe, 
gerdlemen  I  Good  Grod  !  when  shall  I  see  this  poor  country  free 
from  practices  ?  What  dignity,  what  authority  discovers  itself  in 
every  line  !  Does  this  sound  hke  the  style  of  a  poor  Italian,  who 
lets  out  his  wife  to  sing  for  hire  ?  I  suppose  you  would  make  me 
beheve  this  is  Strada's  husband,  and  no  libel,  Iwarrant  you  ;  no 
attempt  against  the  government !'  'Ay,  to  be  sure,'  replied  an  old 
lady, '  every  body  knows  whose  name  begins  with  a  P,  and  that  it 
is  pronounced  in  the  beginning  like  those  two  letters  P  0.'  The 
fat  gentleman  seemed  to  frown  at  this.  '  Madam,'  said  he,  '  Mr. 
P.  must,  no  doubt,  have  some  concern  in  this  affair,  because  it  is 
a  vile  thing,  and  against  the  government ;  but  I  will  undertake  to 
prove  that  nobody  could  pen  this  advertisement  bat  the  Pretender 
himself  Why,  did  you  never  hear  of  Marcus  Aurelius,  the 
famous  statue  on  horseback  ?     And  what  is  a  man  on  horseback 

but  a  chevalier  F    Now  we  all  know  who  the  chevalier  is,  and ' 

'Ay,  'tis  plain,'  cried  a  sober  fellow,  who  sat  musing  in  a  corner, 
'  'tis  very  plain.  Aurelio  stands  for  the  Pretender,  Po  for  the 
Pope,  and  Del  for  the  Devil.  Who  could  assume  such  dignity 
and  majesty  but  one  who  calls  himself  a  monarch  ?  "  For  reasons 
best  known  to  the  said  Aureho  del  Po  and  his  wife !"  Is  not  this 
the  style  of  a  king  and  his  ministers  ?  and  would  an  ItaHan  sing- 
ing woman's  husband  presume  to  offer  terms  in  this  manner  to 
the  nobility  and  gentry  of  Great  Britain  ?  ISTo,  no,  it  must  be  the 
Pretender  who  hath  endeavored  to  impose  upon  the  nation  under 
this  disguise,  and  to  open  a  correspondence  with  the  Royal  Acad- 
emy of  Musick.' " 

APPENDIX   I. 

ROLLI'S  LIBEL. 

During  the  preparation  of  this  book,  additional  evidence  upon 
this  point  has  been  brought  to  me  by  the  friend  who  originally 
explained  this  document  as  a  pohtical  hbel,  which  convinces  me 


IIOLLI'S    LIBEL.  439 

that  his  interpretation  is  the  right  one,  and  that  the  dispute  be- 
tween Handel  and  his  subscribers  was  only  used  as  a  pretext  by- 
some  political  writer  intending  to  attack  Sir  Robert  Walpole  and 
his  Excise  scheme. 

The  Free  Briton,  which  opposed  the  Craftsman  (in  which  the 
libel  originally  appeared),  evidently  took  it  in  this  sense ;  for  in 
the  article  headed  "  The  Craftsman  answered,"  which  appeared 
on  the  24th  of  May,  1733,  the  following  passage  occurs:  "Awliile 
ago  you  talked  about  Signer  Montagnana,  and  of  a  King  who  made 
the  lowest  character  in  the  ivhole  drama.  Indeed,  it  is  a  fine  way 
of  proving  that  you  did  not  affront  the  King,  when  you  told  him 
he  had  astonished  his  people.  *  *  *  This  passage,  to  be  sure, 
was  meant  as  the  finest  stroke  of  humor  in  this  pious  and  loyal 
performance." 

It  remains  to  be  ascertained  who  wrote  the  piece  ;  for  the  name 
of  Rolli  is  evidently  assumed  for  the  occasion.  The  CrafUman 
was  a  newspaper  founded  by  Bolingbroke  and  Pulteney  for  the 
purpose  of  opposing  Walpole's  policy,  and  it  ceased  to  appear 
when  the  latter  minister  fell.  Its  whole  contents  and  ©bject  had, 
therefore,  a  purely  political  tendency.  Bolingbroke  contributed 
to  it  largely  under  the  assumed  name  of  "  Caleb  D' An  vers,  Esq., 
of  Gray's  Inn  ;"  and  it  is  not  at  all  impossible  that  his  audacious 
pen  had  something  to  do  with  "  The  New  Opera  Scheme." 

It  would  not  be  difficult  to  take  the  entire  document,  and  ana- 
lyze it  with  this  view ;  but  for  the  present  I  content  myself  with 
specifying,  from  the  explanation  of  my  friend,  that  Signor  Mon- 
tagnana stands  for  the  King,  Handel  for  Walpole,  and  Signora 
Strada  for  the  Queen,  and  Handel's  brother  (lie  had  none)  for 
Horatio  Lord  Walpole,  who  was  an  eminent  diplomatist  and  a 
supporter  of  the  emancipation  of  the  Jews.  "  Sturdy  beggars" 
was  an  expression  which  the  corrupter  Walpole,  in  the  heat  of 
debate,*  applied  to  the  merchants  of  the  city  of  London,  who  at- 
tended to  petition  against  the  Excise ;  an  expression  wliich  did 
not  tend  to  sweeten  the  amenities  of  the  controversy. 

If  Bolingbroke  wrote  the  letter,  he  must  have  been  as  conver- 
sant with  the  affairs  of  the  opera  as  with  those  of  the  State ;  for 
the  letter,  which  I  am  obliged  to  recognize  as  entirely  political, 
is  in  great  part  adapted  with  singular  exactness  to  the  events 
which  were  then  taking  place  in  the  Haymarket. 

*  See  Hume  and  Smollett's  Risionj,  and  Coxc's  Memoirs  of  Sir  Eo'bcrt  Wal- 
pole, vol.  i.,  p.  401. 


440  APPENDIX. 

APPENDIX  J. 

THE   CLARINET. 

Here  there  is  a  mistake.  The  clarinet  was  invented  at  Nu- 
remberg, between  1690  and  1700,  by  Denner,  a  famous  maker  of 
flutes ;  but  the  state  of  orchestral  science  did  not  permit  a  fuU 
appreciation  of  the  merit  of  the  new  instrument,  which  was  not 
derived  from  any  other.  More  than  sixty  years  elapsed  before 
Gossec,  the  creator  of  the  symphony,  forming  a  high  opinion  of 
its  utility,  employed  it  in  the  symphonies  which  he  had  performed 
and  published  at  Paris  in  1754.  Haydn  used  it  after  the  French 
musician,  in  his  first  symphony,  in  1759.  Ever  since  that  the 
clarinet  has  occupied  the  important  place  which  it  now  holds  in 
the  middle  of  the  orchestra.  (See  articles  "Denner,"  "  Gossec," 
and  "  Haydn,"  in  the  Biograpliie  des  Musiciens.)  Handel  made 
use  of  the  clarinet  once,  in  1724,  a  quarter  of  a  century  before 
Gossec !  In  the  original  MS.  of  Tamerlane,  Mr.  Lacy  has  re- 
marked that  the  air  "  Par  die  mi  nasca"  has  for  the  principal  part 
of  its  accompaniment  "  cornetti  1°  et  2°  ;"  and  in  the  fair  copy 
of  this  opera,  which  is  included  in  Smith's  invaluable  collection, 
Mr.  Lacy  has  also  observed  that  the  two  cornetti  are  replaced  by 
"  clar.  et  clarin.  1*^  et  2°."  The  cornetto,  or  rather  the  cornetta 
(Handel  was  alwa3^s  very  arbitrary  about  these  mascuhne  and 
feminine  genders),  was  a  very  ancient  horn  instrument,  and  there- 
fore pastoral.  The  air  "  Par  che  mi  nasca"  is  pastoral,  and  the 
music,  written  for  the  "  2  cornetti"  could  only  be  played  now  by 
hautboys  or  .  .  clarinets.  Certainly  the  "  clar.  et  clarin.'"  of 
Smith's  copy  is  only  an  abbreviation  for  "  clarinette."  It  is,  more- 
over, the  only  instance  in  which  this  word  is  to  be  found  in  the 
MS.  scores  of  Handel.  According  to  all  probability,  some  Ger- 
man musician  having  brought  the  instrument  to  England  in  1724, 
Handel  immediately  tried  to  make  use  of  it ;  and  the  experiment 
not  being  successful  (whether  on  account  of  the  badness  of  the 
instrument  or  from  some  other  cause),  he  thought  no  more  about 
it.  The  composers  of  the  period  had  as  yet  no  complete  idea  of 
the  symphony ;  like  the  great  Bach,  he  found  in  the  hautboy  and 
the  bassoon  the  means  of  expressing  his  ideas.  He  certainly  did 
not  know  the  fuU  extent  of  what  might  be  done  with  the  clari- 
net, and  he  permitted  it  to  escape  him.  Nevertheless,  this  is  a 
new  fact  in  the  history  of  music. 


PASTIOCIOS.  441 

ITandol  ahvays  showed  the  same  warm  desire  for  profiting  by- 
all  the  instrumental  novelties  that  were  brought  to  him  The 
viohtta  marina  was  scarcely  known  at  London  in  1732,  when  he 
used  it  in  Orlando  (see  pp.  141,  142),  The  serpent  was  imported, 
which  he  had  never  heard  before  (at  least  if  the  somewhat  doubt- 
ful anecdote  at  page  380  is  to  be  beheved)  ;  and  although  the 
importation  was  not  to  his  taste,  he  mingled  it  with  the  flourishes 
of  Fireioorlcs  Music.  There  are  even  scattered  about  liis  MSS. 
indications  of  instruments  which  seem  to  be  ephemeral  inventions 
of  which  the  very  recollection  is  now  lost.  Thus  his  MS.  of  Ri- 
cardo  Primo  (1727)  bears  "2  chaloumeaux"  and  "una  traversa 
bassa."  It  may  be  supposed  that  the  word  '^  chaloumeaux"  was 
one  of  his  French  improvisations,  and  was  intended  to  stand  for 
"hautbois."  Smith,  in  his  original  copy,  has  written  "hautbois" 
in  their  place  ;  but  he  also  preserves  the  "  traversa  bassa,"  whose 
name  seems  to  indicate  a  bass  German  flute.  Therefore  there 
was  an  instrument  called  "  traversa  bassa,"  of  which  we  know 
nothing.  What  could  it  be  ?  Doubtless  some  fancy  of  an  instra- 
ment-maker  which  was  not  successful. 


APPENDIX  K. 

PASTICCIOS. 

In  addition  to  the  three  pasticcios  here  spoken  of,  there  are, 
in  Smith's  collection,  copies  of  three  other  works  of  the  same 
nature,  which  were  given  at  Handel's  theater,  namely,  Ormisda, 
on  the  31st  of  March,  1730  ;  Lucio-Papirio  (which  Colman  erro- 
neously attributes  to  the  master  himself),  on  the  23d  of  May, 
1732  ;  and  Tl  Catone,  in  the  same  year.  Burney,  in  mentioning 
them  according  to  the  order  in  which  they  appeared,  applies  to 
them  the  stereotyped  phrase,  "whether  it  was  a  pasticcio,  or 
composed  by  any  one  in  particular,  I  do  not  know."  I  am  con- 
vinced that  they  were  pasticcios,  made  up  like  the  others  out  of 
such  music  as  happened  to  be  handy.  If  they  had  been  by  any 
body  in  particular,  the  fact  would  be  known  in  some  manner. 
Handel,  who  never  attributed  them  to  himself,  had  no  reason  to 
conceal  it,  and  he  would  scarcely  have  given  his  enemies,  who 
were  always  on  the  watch,  a  pretext  for  attacking  him  upon  that 
point.     The  copies  which  Smith  has  preserved  do  not  bear  any 


442  APPENDIX. 

author's  name.  One  can  easily  understand,  nevertheless,  why  he 
collected  them,  however  little  interest  they  might  possess  of 
themselves ;  in  the  first  place,  in  remembrance  of  what  his  mas- 
ter had  caused  to  be  performed ;  and  in  the  second,  because  he 
himself  had  probably  been  employed  in  their  arrangement.  Per- 
haps he  was  the  author  of  the  recitatives.  We  do  not  perceive 
any  traces  of  Handel's  hand  in  them,  as  in  ArbaceSj  Semiramis^ 
and  Cajus. 

APPENDIX  L. 

THE  HIGH  PRICES  GIVEN  TO  GREAT  SINGERS. 

It  has  been  seen  that  Senesino  received  fourteen  hundred 
guineas ;  FarineUi,  fifteen  hundred ;  Signora  Cuzzoni,  two  thou- 
sand, besides  a  benefit  every  season.  It  was  very  much  the 
same  at  even  a  more  remote  period.  Doni,  in  his  treatise,  De 
Prcestantia  Musicce  veteris  (published  in  1647),  says  that  some  of 
the  singers  "  are  hired  at  great  rates."*  Great  complaints  have 
been  made  about  this.  It  seems  scandalous  that  an  interpreting 
artist  should  receive  £4000  for  the  labor  of  six  or  eight  months. 
But,  nevertheless,  one  thing  should  be  observed :  they  only  re- 
ceive these  sums  because  they  are  the  means  of  gaining  greater 
ones.  Place  the  name  of  a  favorite  upon  the  bill,  and  the  house 
is  full ;  remove  it,  and  it  is  empty,  whether  it  be  Don  Juan  or 
Fidelio  which  is  announced.  A  score,  much  more  than  either  a 
tragedy  or  a  comedy,  requires  to  be  well  performed ;  and  even 
the  more  beautiful  it  is,  the  less  pleasure  does  it  give  to  Usten  to 
it  when  badly  executed.  In  that  case,  it  becomes  painful  to  hs- 
ten.  The  art  of  singing  has  immense  and  innumerable  difficul- 
ties. Those  disagreeable  persons  who  murder  a  piece  of  music 
in  a  drawing-room,  have  no  idea  that  ten  years  of  practice  would 
scarcely  enable  them  to  sing  it  properly.  It  is  not  sufficient  for 
the  interpreter  of  composers  to  have  the  natural  gift  of  a  fine 
voice,  but  he  requires  the  most  careful  study  before  he  under- 
stands how  to  use  it,  and  constant  toil,  and  the  most  laborious 
care,  to  preserve  and  keep  it  in  perfection.  Baillot  and  Paganini 
might  go  and  take  a  walk  whenever  they  felt  so  disposed ;  but 
G-arcia  and  Rubini,  never.  The  singers  are  slaves  to  their  voices, 
than  wliich  nothing  can  be  more  dehcate,  or  more  susceptible. 

•  Burney. 


HIGU     PRICES     GIVEN    TO     SINGERS.  443 

The  slightest  accident,  a  cold,  a  draught  of  air,  or  an  attack  of 
illness  may  deteriorate  or  destroy  them ;  and  when  that  is  the 
case,  what  is  left  ?  Wliatever  their  talent  maybe,  it  is  henceforth 
of  no  avail.  And  then,  again,  consider  the  shortness  of  their 
career.  As  artists  they  die  young,  though,  as  individuals,  they 
may  live  to  be  full  of  years.  I  have  no  desire  to  excuse  the  ex- 
acting and  capricious  disposition  with  which  theatrical  artists  are 
generally  reproached,  and  which  they  adduce  against  themselves 
in  performing  Les  Comidiens  of  Casimir  Delavigne,  and  La  Prova 
dun'  Opera  Sena ;  but  is  not  what  they  gain  in  proportion  to 
the  services  which  they  render  ?  I  have  often  heard  it  said, 
"  What  a  scandalous  thing  that  a  mere  singer  should  receive  more 
than  a  general  who  has  served  his  country  for  twenty  years  1" 
But  this  has  always  seemed  to  me  to  be  illogical  and  absurd. 
Generals  and  officers  do  not  serve  their  country  either  more  or 
less  than  any  other  species  of  government  officials.  They  do  not 
go  either  to  the  field  or  to  the  barrack  for  notliing.  They  receive 
a  salary  wliich  they  take  every  possible  opportunity  of  augment- 
ing. Their  country  is  quits  with  them  when  it  pays  them,  just 
as  a  company  is  quits  with  the  engineer  whom  -it  has  hired,  or  a 
manufacturer  of  mirrors  with  the  workman  whom  he  employs — 
an  occupation  (be  it  parenthetically  observed)  which  is  much 
more  dangerous  than  that  of  a  soldier.  Besides,  if  you  ask  the 
best  general  upon  earth  to  sing  the  finest  opera  in  the  world,  he 
will  not  bring  one  halfpenny  mto  the  treasury  of  the  theater. 
The  question  hes  entirely  in  this.  There  are  many  very  clever 
artists  who  would  be  g^.ad  to  be  assured  of  as  good  a  pension  as 
is  allotted  to  even  the  most  incompetent  general.  In  fact,  it  is 
only  very  great  reputations  that  are  very  highly  paid ;  and  it 
does  not  appear  that  the  best  painters,  and  the  best  writers,  gain 
less  by  their  talent  than  the  best  singers.  In  the  exercise  of  the 
arts  particularly,  every  exceptional  superiority  amounts  to  genius, 
and  should  be  proportionately  respected.  In  these  days,  after  all, 
with  the  excellent  system  of  assuring  to  authors  their  rights,  the 
wealth  of  the  greatest  interpreters  no  longer  insults  the  poverty 
of  the  gi-eatest  creators.  Kossini's  chateau  at  Boulogne  is  as 
beautiful  as  Lablache's  house  at  Pausilhppe.  And,  to  console  the 
moderns,  let  it  be  observed  that  the  ancients  made  even  more 
extravagant  sacrifices  in  favor  of  musicians  than  we  do.  Amoe- 
boeus,  a  celebrated  lute-player  of  Athens,  never  took  less  than  an 
Attic  talent  (about  £270  sterling)  to  play  anywhere.* 
*  Traite  des  Cytharedes,  quoted  by  Fetis. 


444  APPENDIX. 

APPENDIX   M. 

DEPEAYED  TASTE  IN  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY. 

In  the  history  of  the  arts,  there  are  accidents  which  will  re- 
main eternally  incomprehensible  ;  and  one  of  these  is  to  be  found 
in  the  fact  that  Israel  in  Egypt^  the  Hercules  of  oratorios,  was 
despised  by  its  cotemporaries.  But  w^hat  shall  we  say  of  England 
at  that  time  ?  Shakespeare,  the  greatest  mind  of  all  the  human 
race,  was  then  treated  with  indifference.  The  London  Daily 
Post  of  the  14th  of  March,  1738,  made  this  communication  to  its 
readers : — "  Several  of  the  nobihty  have  agreed  to  erect  a  stately 
monument  to  the  memory  of  Mr.  William  Shakespear,  the  famous 
English  Poet  (/)  in  Westminster  Abbey."  On  the  28th  of  the 
following  April  it  stated,  that  Julius  Coesar  had  been  acted  at 
Drury  Lane  Theater,  "  toward  raising  a  fund  for  erecting  a  monu- 
ment to  his  memory."  A  year  afterward  the  project  had  got  no 
further ;  for  when  Hamlet  was  performed  for  the  same  purpose, 
the  theater  was  half  empty.  Read  the  Daily  Post  of  the  10th  of 
April,  1739 : — "  Last  night  was  performed  the  tragedy  of  Hamlet^ 
at  Covent  Garden,  toward  raising  a  fund /or  erecting  a  monument 
to  the  memory  of  Shakespear,  on  which  occasion  it  was  expected 
there  would  have  been  a  greater  audience  than  there  appeared  to 
he.  But  the  Lord  Burhngton  was  pleased,  out  of  his  regard  to 
the  memory  of  so  great  a  man,  to  give  ten  guineas  for  himself"." 

The  corruption  of  taste  had  arrived  at  such  an  unheard-of 
pitch,  that  a  Mr.  Theobald  caused  to  be  played,  as  well  as  printed, 
"  TJie  Double  Falsehood^  or  the  Distressed  Lovers  ;  a  play  as  it  is 
acted  at  the  Theater  Eoyal  in  Drury  Lane.  Written  originally  by 
Mr.  W.  Shakespeare,  and  revised  and  adapted  to  the  stage  by  Mr. 
Theobald,  the  author  of  Shalcespeare  Restored  I  /"  This  piece,  al- 
though a  forgery,  was  received  by  the  public  as  authentic.  In 
Reed's  Biographia  Dramatical  we  learn,  upon  this  subject,  that 
"  the  play  was  acted  twelve  nights  with  considerable  applause. 
The  plot  is  from  a  novel  in  the  first  part  of  Don  Quixoter 

K  we  had  not  a  thousand  examples  that  a  bad  education  can 
vitiate  the  greatest  inteUigences  on  certain  points,  it  would  not  be 
credible  that  Yoltaire  could  have  called  Shakespeare  un  harhare 

*  Vol.  iii.,  p.  ITS. 


D  E  r  K  A  V  K  D     TASTE.  445 

(a  barbarian) ;  but  how  can  we  be  astonishedj  when  wc  find  that 
England  herself,  scarcely  one  hundred  years  ago,  did  not  under- 
shind  the  immensity  of  that  immeasurable  genius.  Did  not  Dry- 
den  dare  to  arrange  The  Tempest !  I  Dryden,  when  speaking  in 
his  preface  of  the  project  for  that  parody,  which  had  been  com- 
municated to  him,  made  Use  of  these  memorable  words  : — "  But 
Sir  William  Davenant,  as  he  was  a  man  of  a  quick  and  piercing 
imagination,  soon  found  that  somewhat  might  be  added  to  the 
design  of  Shakespeare,  of  which  neither  Fletcher  nor  SuckKng* 
had  ever  thought.  And,  therefore,  to  put  the  last  hand  to  it,  he 
designed  the  counterpart  to  Shakespeare's  plot,  namely,  that  of  a 
man  who  had  never  seen  a  woman ;  that,  by  this  means,  those 
two  characters  of  innocence  and  love  might  the  more  illustrate 
and  commend  each  other.  This  excellent  contrivance  he  was 
pleased  to  communicate  to  me,  and  to  desire  my  assistance  in  it. 
I  confess  that,  from  the  very  first  moment,  it  so  pleased  me,  that 
I  never  writ  any  thing  with  more  delight."  !  If 

Dryden,  in  his  preface  to  Troilus  and  Cressida,  which  also  he 
has  turned  upside  down,  said  again : — "  It  must  be  allowed,  that 
the  tongue  in  general  is  so  much  refined  since  Shakespeare's  time, 
tliat  many  of  his  words,  and.  more  of  his  phrases,  are  scarce  in- 
telligible. And  of  those  which  we  understand,  some  are  un- 
grammatical,  others  coarse,  and  his  whole  style  is  so  pestered  of 
figurative  expressions,  that  it  is  as  affected  as  it  is  obscure.  In 
this  tragedy,  which  I  have  undertaken  to  cori'ect,  I  tried  to  re- 
move that  heap  of  ruhhish  under  which  many  excellent  thoughts 
were  buried.  Accordingly,  I  new-modeled  the  plot,  threw  out 
many  unnecessary  persons,  improved  those  characters  which  were 
begun  and  left  unfinished,  and  added  that  of  Andromache."  ! !  !J 

"  Le  mecliant  gout  du  si^cle  en  cela  me  fait  peur." — Le  Misanthrope, 

England  showed  at  that  time  great  ingratitude  toward  her 
demigod ;  and  yet  who  loved  her  more  dearly  tlian  he  ?  His 
was  not  merely  the  love  of  a  son  for  his  mother,  but  it  was  as 
tender  as  that  of  a  mother  for  her  son.  His  works  are  full  of  de- 
licious passages,  in  which  his  patriotism  becomes  manifest.  ISTo 
corner  of  the  globe  has  been  sung  by  native  poets  as  England 
has  by  her  Shakespeare  : 

*  Both  these  authors  had  already  corrected  (!)  The  Tempest. 

t  The  Dramatic  Works  of  John  Drijclen,  6  vols,  in  12mo,  1762,  vol.  ii.,  page  180. 

X  Ditto,  ditto,  vol.  v.,  page  2. 


446  APPENDIX. 

"  This  other  Eden,  demi-paradise ; 
This  fortress,  built  by  Nature  for  herself 
Against  infection  and  the  hand  of  war  ; 
This  happy  breed  of  men,  this  little  world  ; 
This  precious  stone  set  in  the  silver  sea." 

Richard  II. 

Shakespeare  so  loved  his  country,  that  he  divined  by  intuition 
the  heart-anguish  of  those  who  have  lost  theirs.  Romeo,  when 
Friar  Laurence  tells  him  that  he  is  banished  from  Verona,  cries : 

"  Ha !  banishment  ?    Be  merciful ;  say  '  death ;' 
For  exile  hath  more  terror  in  his  look, 
Much  more,  than  death  ;  do  not  say  '  banishment.' 

'■'■Friar.  ****** 

Be  patient,  for  the  world  is  broad  and  wide. 

'■'■Romeo.  There  is  no  world  without  Verona's  walls  : 

Hadst  thou  no  poison  mixed. 

But  banished — to  kill  me — banished ! 

O  friar!  the  damned  use  that  word  iu  heU." 

He  who  spoke  thus  was  Shakespeare,  and  yet  his  compatriots 
of  the  eighteenth  century  could  not  find  the  means  of  erecting  a 
statue  to  him  !  Even  at  the  present  day  in  London,  where  you 
may  find  in  every  square  a  herd  of  dukes,  to  whom  not  even 
broDze  can  give  celebrity,  Shakespeare  is  nowhere  to  be  found. 
His  image  remains  shut  up  in  Westminster  Abbey,  instead  of 
being  set  upon  a  column,  whose  height  should  dominate  over  the 
metropolis  as  his  genius  dominates  over  the  entire  globe. 

When  Dryden,  who  was  so  truly  a  poet  himself,  remodeled 
The  Tempest^  which  is  an  incomparable  pearl  of  fancy  and  imagi- 
nation ;  when  he  corrected  the  greatest  of  poets  and  of  writers 
who  ever  has,  and  who  ever  will,  exist ;  when  the  author  of  Ro- 
meo^ oi  Richard  the  Third^  and  of  Macbeth^  is  called  "Mr.  William 
Shakespeare ;"  when  he  is  spoken  of  as ''  a  famous  Engiish  poet;" 
when  a  Theobald  restores  him ;  when  Julius  Ccesar  and  Hamlet 
do  not  attract  sufficient  audiences  to  purchase  a  marble  statue  for 
him  ;  when  they  were  not  even  acquainted  with  the  orthography 
of  his  name — the  fate  of  Israel  in  Egypt  becomes  somewhat  less 
astonishinor. 


THE    STATE    OP    MUSIC    IN    ENGLAND.        447 

APPENDIX  N. 
THE  STATE   OF  MUSIC   IN   ENGLAND. 

Upon  this  subject  I  contributed  an  article  to  the  Critic^  London 
Literary  Journal^  of  June  2,  1856,  and  I  think  it  not  out  of  place 
to  insert  it  here,  with  a  few  amendments  and  additions  : 

Those  who  have  never  lived  in  England  usually  deny  that  there 
is  in  that  country  any  taste  for  or  knowledge  of  music.  Never 
was  there  a  greater  mistake.  Without  excepting  either  Germany, 
or  France,  or  Italy,  there  is  no  country  where  classic  compositions 
are  more  eagerly  sought  for,  hstened  to,  and  appreciated,  than  in 
England ;  there  is  no  country  where  one  may  hear  better  music, 
or  where  it  is  executed  on  a  more  magnificent  scale. 

England,  it  is  true,  has  not  produced  a  single  great  composer. 
Purcell,  who  lived  about  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century,  was, 
with  all  his  high  merit  and  his  boldness,  only  a  man  of  the  second 
rank.  We  may  say  the  same  of  Dr.  Arne,  who  was  a  true  com- 
poser; for,  although  Uttle  known  out  of  England,  and  scarcely 
appreciated  even  in  his  own  country,  he  had  one  great  quahty  of 
genius,  namely,  an  individuahty  of  style.'  Handel  was  a  Ger- 
man; he  arrived  in  London  ready-made,  as  it  were;  and  his 
style  remained,  after  fifty  years'  sojourn,  precisely  what  it  was 
when  he  arrived.'"''  England  has  never  created  a  school,  or  a  style 
peculiar  to  itself.  The  Glees  of  the  sixteenth  century  will  always 
charm,  just  as  the  Irish  melodies  do ;  but  they  are  mere  frag- 
ments of  the  simplest  kind,  and  have  nothing  in  them  tending  to 
high  eminence.  The  English  know  this ;  and  they  prove  their 
good  taste  by  never  playing  their  own  music,  and  by  only  play- 
ing the  best  music  of  other  countries. 

Another  fact,  httle  known  on  the  Continent,  is,  that  the  culti- 
vation of  music  is  of  very  ancient  date  in  this  country.  It  is  not 
even  known  when  the  Doctorship  of  Music  was  instituted,  a 
degree  still  conferred  in  the  two  gi-eat  Universities  of  Oxford  and 
Cambridge ;  but  we  find  mention  made  of  a  man  named  Hambois 
who  bore  that  title  in  1470  (Busby's  Dictionary  of  Music).  That 
wild  beast  called  Henry  VIII.  composed  glees  which  deserved  to 
survive  him.  In  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  it  was  part  of  a  gentle- 
man's education  to  be  able  to  read  at  sight  the  music  of  any  song 
which  might  be  presented  to  him.    Among  the  subscribers  to  some 


448  APPENDIX. 

of  Handel's  operas,  which  were  pubhshed  by  subscription,  may  be 
found  the  Apollo  Society  at  Windsor;  the  Musical  Society  at 
Oxford ;  the  Ladies'  Society  at  Lincoln;  the  Sahsbury  Society 
of  Music ;  the  Musical  Society  at  Exeter ;  and  at  London,  the 
Philliarmonic  Club;  the  Philharmonic  Society;  the  Monday 
Night  Musical  Society;  the  Wednesday  Musical  Society;  the 
Society  of  Music,  at  the  Castle,  in  Paternoster  Eow ;  the  Crown 
and  Anchor  Musical  Society ;  the  St.  Cecilia  Society.  Mr.  Towns- 
end  enumerates  the  following  societies  as  existing  in  Dubhn  in 
1741,  the  year  in  which  Handel  went  there  :  The  Charitable  Mu- 
sical Society  in  Fishamble-street ;  the  Charitable  and  Musical 
Society  in  Vicar-street ;  the  Charitable  Musical  Society  on  Col- 
lege Grreen;  the  Charitable  Musical  Society  in  Crown-street; 
the  Musical  Society  in  Werburgh-street;  the  Academy  of  Music, 
and  the  Philharmonic  Society.  The  name  of  this  last  seems  to 
indicate  that  it  occupied  itself  more  particularly  with  instrumental 
music.  The  Dublin  journals  of  the  same  period  make  mention 
of  similar  societies  at  Cork,  at  Drogheda,  and  other  places.  Their 
names  prove  at  the  same  time  their  noble  purpose  ;  for  nearly  all 
were  destined  to  succor  some  particular  misfortune. 

The  England  of  to-day  has  not  degenerated  from  this  brilliant 
past.  She  can  number  more  musical  societies  than  we  know  of 
elsewhere.  There  are — The  Sacred  Harmonic  Society ;  the  Lon- 
don Sacred  Harmonic  Society ;  the  Union  Harmonic  Society ; 
the  Hullah  Society ;  the  Cecihan  Society,  whose  existence  dates 
since  1785 ;  the  Amateur  Musical  Society,  directed  by  Mr.  Henry 
Leslie ;  the  Society  of  British  Musicians ;  the  Madrigal  Society ; 
the  Bach  Society,  whose  object  is  to  reproduce  and  popularize  the 
works  of  the  great  man  whose  name  it  has  assumed,  etc.  All 
these  societies,  with  orchestras  of  from  200  to  600  members, 
meet  every  year  from  twelve  to  twenty  times,  and  find  a  public 
willing  to  support  them.  Their  choruses  are  composed  of  ama- 
teurs and  professional  singers.  The  Philharmonic  Society  of  Lon- 
don, founded  in  1813,  served  as  a  model  to  that  celebrated  French 
Socittt  des  Concerts  du  Conservatoire^  which  only  dates  from 
1827.  It  was  the  PhiUiarmonic  Society  which  purchased  the 
Choral  Symphony  of  Beethoven,  and  purchased  this  immortal 
work  for  one  hundred  guineas  !  Many  of  Haydn's  delicious  sym- 
phonies were  composed  in  London  in  1790 ;  and  Haydn  often 
observed  that  •'  it  was  England  that  had  made  him  celebrated  in 
Germany"    (Dictionary  of  Musicians).     The  new  Philharmonic 


THE    STATE     OP     MUSIC    IN    ENGLAND.        449 

Society,  organized  only  three  years  ago  by  Dr.  Wilde ;  the  Or- 
chestral Union,  conducted  by  a  very  able  leader,  Mr.  Alfred  Mel- 
lon ; — give,  each  of  them,  twelve  concerts  yearly,  in  which  grand 
symphonies  are  performed.  The  Quartette  Society,  and  the  Mu- 
sical Union,  which  devote  themselves  religiously  to  the  instrumenal 
chamber  music  of  Bocherini,  Haydn,  Pleyel,  Mozart,  Beethoven, 
Hummel,  Onslow,  etc.,  can  also  adduce  their  existence  for  many 
years  in  proof  that  there  is  no  lack  of  amateurs.  All  this  is  exclu- 
sive of  the  Opera-houses,  Italian  and  English,  and  two  or  three 
special  concerts  which  occur  every  day  during  those  three  months 
which  are  called  "  the  season."  That  this  is  no  exaggeration,  may 
be  proved  by  the  advertisements  of  a  single  day  of  "  the  season." 
The  list  is  really  curious ;  for,  so  far  from  having  collected  it  with 
difficulty,  it  has  been  taken  bodily  from  the  Times  of  Monday, 
the  14th  of  May,  1855 : 

SACRED  HARMONIC  SOCIETY,  Exeter  Hall.— On  the  25th  of  May  will  be 
repeated  Haydn' s  Creation.  The  Orchestra,  the  most  extensive  available  in  Ex. 
eter  Hall,  will  consist  of  nearly  TOO  performers. 

LONDON  SACRED  HARMONIC  SOCIETY,  Exeter  Hall.— May  the  21st, 
Haydn's  oratorio  Creation;  preceded  by  the  Royal  Birth-day  Cantata,  with  band 
and  chorus  of  nearly  SCO  performers. 

MUSICAL  UNION.— To-morrow,  May  15,  at  Willis's  Rooms,  Trio  in  E  minor, 
piano  forte,  etc.,  Shpor ;  Quartet  No.  2  in  G,  Beethoven;  etc. 

ST.MARTIN'S  HALL. — Mozart' siiegmcrrt,  Beethoven's  Choral  Fantasia,  etc., 
will  be  performed  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  John  HuUah  on  Wednesday  evening, 
May  16. 

HARMONIC  UNION,  Hanover  Square  Rooms.— May  30,  Mendelssohn' s^i/aft, 

THE   ENGLISH  GLEE  AND  MADRIGAL  UNION The  Annual  Series  of 

Morning  Concerts  will  take  place  at  Willis' s  Rooms  on  the  28th  of  May,  and  4th 
and  11th  of  June. 

PHILHARMONIC  SOCIETY.— The  Fifth  Concert  will  take  place  at  the  Han- 
over Square  Rooms  this  evening,  the  14th  instant.  Programme  : — Sinfonia  in  E 
flat,  Mozart ;  Concerto  piano  forte  in  E  minor,  Chopin  ;  Sinfonia,  Pastorale,  Beet- 
hoven ;  Overture,  Preciosa,  Weber. 

NEW  PHILHARMONIC  SOCIETY,  Exeter  Hall.— On  May  23,  Symphony  in 
B  flat,  Beethoven,  etc. 

MR  WILLY'S  QUARTETT  CONCERTS— The  Third  and  last  Concert  will 
take  place,  at  St.  Martin's  Hall,  on  May  IS. 

MRS.  JOHN  MACFARREN  will  give  her  TWO  ANNUAL  MATINEES  of 
,  PIANO  FORTE  MUSIC,  at  the  Beethoven  Rooms:  the  first  on  May  19, 

MR.  H.  COOPER'S  SECOND  SOIREE  of  VIOLIN  MUSIC  will  take  place  at 
27  Queen  Anne-street,  on  May  16. 

MADAME  CLARA  NOVELLO  will  SING  in  IMMANUEL,  on  May  30,  at  St. 
Martin's  Hall. 

MADAME  PUZZrS  ANNUAL  GRAND  MORNING  CONCERT  will  take 
place  on  May  21,  at  Willis's  Rooms. 

MISS  DOLBY  and  MR.  LINDSAY  SLOPER'S  ANNUAL  GRAND  CON- 
CERT will  take  place  at  St.  Martin's  Ilall,  on  June  13. 


450  ATPENDIX. 

CHARLES    SALAMAN'S   MUSICAL  LECTURE  and   ENTERTAINMENT, 

aiustrated  by  his  own  performances  on  tli«  Virginalls  and  Harpsichord,  etc.,  to- 
morrow, at  the  Marylebone  InstitutioTi. 

MR.  BENEDICT'S  ANNUAL  GRAND  MORNING  CONCERT  will  take 
place  on  June  15,  at  the  Royal  Italian  Opera. 

SIGNOR  MARRAS'S  ANNUAL  GRANDE  MATINEE  MUSICALE  will  take 
place  on  May  20. 

SIGNOR  and  MADAME  FERRARI'S  ANNUAL  CONCERT  will  take  place 
at  the  Hanover  Square  Rooms,  on  May  16, 

SAPPHO   GLEE   CLUB Southwark  Literary  Institution,  Borough  Road — 

This  evening  a  Concert  will  be  given  by  the  members  of  the  above  society,  com- 
prisiag  glees,  madrigals,  etc. 

Surely  it  will  be  admitted  that  the  country  in  which  so  much 
music  is  to  be  found,  in  one  single  day,  must  be  musical. 

The  societies  which  we  have  made  mention  of  above  occupy 
themselves  with  the  highest  and  most  difiSicult  class  of  works. 
In  1854,  the  Bach  Society  (with  an  excellent  musician,  Mr. 
Sterndale  Bennett,  at  its  head)  executed  twice  the  Passion  of  the 
great  fugueist  of  Leipsic;  and  the  Sacred  Harmonic  Society 
played  twice,  and  with  admirable  development,  about  the  com- 
mencement of  last  year,  Beethoven's  colossal  Mass  in  D.  The 
New  Philharmonic  Society  has  produced  Cherubini's  Mass  in  0. 
Where  but  in  England  can  you  hear  these  exalted  productions  ? 
AVhere  but  in  England  can  you  depend  sufficiently  upon  the  pub- 
lic to  risk  the  outlay  of  producing  them  ?  And  what  proves  still 
more  the  elevated  taste  of  the  English  is,  that  these  works  belong 
to  the  sacred  music  of  the  Romish  Church,  of  that  Popish  religion 
which  the  majority  of  them  dishke  ;  in  deference  to  which  feeling 
Cherubini's  Mass  is  called  a  "  Grrand  Choral  Work,"  and  Beet- 
hoven's is  advertised  as  "  Beethoven's  Service." 

We  may  go  so  far  as  to  say  that  the  English  have  a  passion 
for  music ;  and  this  is  all  the  more  striking  because,  in  spite  of 
the  facility  with  which  they  become  infatuated,  they  are,  after 
their  A-merican  descendants,  the  people  of  all  others  who  have  the 
least  enthusiasm.  A  gentleman  met  Haydn  in  the  middle  of  the 
street,  stopped  him,  stood  opposite  to  him  for  some  time,  exam- 
ined him,  and  said  "You  are  a  great  man!"  having  said  which  he 
passed  on  {Life  of  Haydn,  b}^  Stendahl).  This  is  not  a  French 
enthusiasm,  but  it  is  enthusiasm  nevertheless ;  and  music  has  oc- 
casionally inspired  the  English  to  manifestations  quite  French  or 
Itahan.  A  beautiful  lady,  carried  beyond  herself  by  a  cavatina 
by  Farinelli,  rose  up  and  cried  out,  "  There  is  but  one  God  and 
one  Farinelli  1"     (Hawkins,  p.  887.) 


THE    STATE    OF    MUSIC    IN    ENGLAND.         451 

The  English  have  always  sung,  and  still  sing,  much  more  than 
is  generally  imagined  on  the  Continent.  There  belong  to  this 
country  several  collections  of  from  one  to  six  volumes  in  octavo, 
in  quarto,  and  in  folio,  consisting  of  songs  and  ballads.  It  is 
sometliing  alarming  to  see.  The  British  Musical  Miscellany^  pub- 
hshed  from  1735  to  1737,  would  be  alone  enough  to  turn  the 
head  of  the  most  fanatical  of  Italian  melomaniacs.  It  contains 
not  less  than  nine  hundred  pages  in  quarto,  closely  covered  with 
music,  which  howls  uproariously  the  pleasures  of  Bacchus,  and 
sighs  out  the  amors  of  an  innumerable  band  of  Phillises,  Chloes, 
Nancies,  Damons,  and  Corydons.  To  speak  the  truth,  the  En- 
glish even  abuse  music ;  they  seem  unable  to  do  any  thing  with- 
out it,  and  mix  it  up  with  every  thing  less  discreetly  than  beseems 
so  delicate  an  art.  If  you  go  to  the  annual  floral  exhibitions  you 
are  deafened  by  the  red-coated  bands  of  such  and  such  a  regiment 
blazing  away  in  all  the  pride  of  brass ;  if  you  go  to  a  panorama,  or 
to  an  exhibition  of  Turkish  costumes,  or  to  hear  Mr,  Gordon  Gum- 
ming, the  lion-slayer,  recounting  his  exploits,  or  to  a  wax-work, 
everywhere  you  find  a  gentleman  who  pianofies  aM'-ay  in  a  cor- 
ner, with  his  nose  in  the  air.  Even  the  Crystal  Palace  has  a  per- 
manent orchestra. 

"  Aimez  vous  la  muscade  ?    On  en  a  mis  partout." — Boileau. 

It  is  also  a  fact  worthy  of  notice,  as  proving  this  extensive  and 
popular  taste  for  music,  that  at  the  Middlesex  Sessions  held  in 
October,  1856,  out  of  100  applications  made  to  the  magistrates 
for  licenses  to  play  music  (without  dancing)  51  were  granted, 
and  these  were  in  addition  to  the  old  hst  of  305  licenses 
which,  with  one  or  two  exceptions,  were  renewed.  If  we  con- 
sider the  Hcenses  granted  by  the  magistrates  of  the  city  of  Lon- 
don and  for  the  county  of  Surrey,  it  is  certainly  not  too  much  to 
say  that  there  are  from  five  to  six  hundred  places  for  the  perform- 
ance of  music  alone  (without  dancing)  in  the  metropolis.  What 
other  capital  in  the  world  can  boast  of  a  similar  fact? 

In  fact,  not  only  is  England  a  more  musical  country  than  is 
generally  supposed,  but  it  is  a  country  in  which  music  has  been 
cultivated  to  a  very  high  pitch  for  a  long  time  past.  To  tliis  is 
due  the  idea  of  those  great  musical  reunions  called  Festivals.  At 
the  Commemoration  of  Handel,  in  1784,  was  assembled,  for  the 
first  time  in  the  world,  an  orchestra  of  626  artists,  singers,  and 
instrumentahsts. 


452  APPENDIX. 

In  the  present  century,  when  the  spirit  of  association  commu- 
nicates to  every  thing  colossal  proportions,  it  was  reserved  for 
England  alone  to  surpass  herself.  That  which  took  place  at  the 
opening  of  the  Crystal  Palace  at  Sydenham  on  the  10th  of  June, 
1854,  will  doubtless  be  recorded.  Upon  that  occasion  Great 
Britain  not  only  showed  that  she  could  create  the  most  magnifi- 
cent utilitarian  institution  of  the  nineteenth  century,  but  also  that 
she  could  arrange  a  musical  spectacle  upon  unparalleled  propor- 
tions. Three  hundred  and  eighty-seven  instrumentalists  and 
twelve  hundred  and  forty-eight  choral  singers,  organized  by  the 
Sacred  Harmonic  Society,  executed  remarkably  well,  after  a  sin- 
gle rehearsal,  "  God  save  the  Queen,"  the  Hundredth  Psalm,  and 
the  Hallelujah  Chorus  of  The  Messiah.  Although  almost  every 
body  in  England  knows  those  three  pieces  by  heart,  it  is  none  the 
less  extraordinary  that  such  a  mass  as  sixteen  hundred  and  thirty- 
five  performers  could  be  brought  to  execute  them  well  together 
after  a  single  rehearsal.  The  next  Handelian  Festival,  announced 
for  the  month  of  June,  1857,  will  number  two  thousand  five  hun- 
dred performers  I  The  entire  musical  arrangements  also  are 
undertaken  by  the  Sacred  Harmonic  Society,  whose  ordinary 
orchestra  of  seven  hundred  performers  will  be  the  nucleus  of  this 
colossal  display.  It  is  a  new  title  for  this  Society  to  the  esteem 
of  all  friends  of  art.  These  things  appear  to  indicate  not  so 
much  an  accidental  increase  as  a  progressive  law,  the  result  of 
scientific  labor  in  connection  with  the  extension  of  buildings ; 
for  it  will  remain,  as  an  honorable  fact,  in  the  musical  liistory  of 
England,  that 

In  1784  there  were  526  artists  brought  together. 
In  1791         "  1068  " 

In  1854        "         1635  " 

In  1857        "         2500  « 

But  it  is  not  in  Loudon  only  that  music  is  thus  cultivated. 
Every  year  there  are  in  the  provinces  two  or  three  festivals,  for 
each  of  which  the  locahty  in  which  it  takes  place  pays  not  less 
than  three  or  four  thousand  pounds  sterhng.  There  is  not  one 
town  of  any  importance  in  the  kingdom  that  has  not  a  building 
more  or  less  specially  destined  for  these  feasts  of  art.  The  Music 
Hall  at  Manchester  is  one  of  the  finest  modern  edifices  in  this 
country,  and  will  contain  4000  persons ;  the  concert  rooms  in  St. 


THE    STATE    OF    MUSIC    IN    ENGLAND.        453 

George  s  Hall  at  Liverpool,  the  Philharmonic  Hall  in  the  same 
town,  and  the  Music  Hall  at  Bradford,  are  admirably  adapted  for 
great  musical  displays.  In  18.-1  I  attended  a  festival  at  Norw^ich, 
given,  according  to  custom,  for  the  benefit  of  the  charitable  insti- 
tutions of  the  county.  The  artists  who  executed  these  pieces, 
under  the  direction  of  that  able  conductor,  M.  Benedict,  were 
three  hundred  in  number.  The  receipts  of  the  five  concerts 
amounted  to  £-1000.  A  perusal  of  the  programme  will  serve  to 
give  some  notion  of  the  style  of  music  which,  even  in  the  provin- 
ces, is  considered  most  likely  to  attract  a  crowd:  Rossini's  Stahat 
Mater ;  Handel's  Acis  and  Galatea  and  Messiah  ;  the  overture  to 
Leonora,  the  Symphony  in  A  flat,  and  the  Grand  Mass  in  C  by 
Beethoven;  Haydn's  Creation;  several  morceaux  from  Mozart 
and  Weber,  and  selections  from  Guglielmi,  Festa,  Stradella,  and 
Cherubini,  etc.  About  the  same  period  Manchester  and  Glouces- 
ter had  festivals  of  quite  as  high  an  order. 

Last  year,  in  the  month  of  September,  the  Birmingham  Fes- 
tival, with  M.  Costa  at  its  head,  held  seven  meetings,  and  col- 
lected £11,537  from  13,038  auditors.  Extraordinary  as  they 
may  appear,  these  figures  are  authentic.  In  this  town,  which 
seems  to  be  entirely  devoted  to  manufactures,  where  you  can  see 
no  other  colonnades  but  the  chimneys  of  factories  and  steam- 
engines,  where  the  sun  can  scarcely  penetrate  the  black  canopy 
of  smoke — these  great  solemnities  are  always  performed  with 
equal  success.  In  1852  the  sum  collected  w^as  £10,638.  It 
would  be  puerile  to  cite  a  more  extraordinary  proof  of  the 
power  of  music  than  these  great  inroads  upon  the  purse  of  a 
community.  At  the  same  time  it  should  be  recorded  that  in 
these  festivals  the  neighborhood  always  suppUes  amateurs  cap- 
able of  taking  part  in  the  chorus  and  the  orchestra,  and  every- 
where there  are  critics  who  really  understand  the  science,  and 
who  criticise  the  performances  in  the  pubhc  journals.  And  so 
interested  is  all  England  in  these  matters,  that  the  principal 
London  journals  usually  give  some  account  of  these  musical 
doings  in  the  provinces. 

The  Enghsh  press  undoubtedly  puts  forward  strange  opinions 
upon  occasions:  as,  for  example,  we  are  told  that  Haydn's 
Creation  is  "weak  and  small!  I"  (see  the  Times  of  the  11th  of 
December,  1855)  ;  that  "  the  music  allotted  to  the  soprano  in  the 
Elijah  is  of  a  far  deeper  meaning  and  a  far  loftier  beauty  than 
any  thing  Hayd  never  imagined"  {Times  of  December  18).     But 


454  APPENDIX. 

apai't  from  these  eccentricities  (and  where  is  it  that  there  are  no 
incendiaries  for  the  Temple  of  Ephesus?)  it  is  certain  that  musical 
criticism  in  England  is  more  serious,  and,  above  all,  more  learned 
than  the  French. 

There  is  another  proof  that  England  loves  music,  to  be  derived 
from  the  great  number  of  books  published  upon  that  art,  and  the 
high  prices  which  are  set  upon  them.  The  four  volumes  of  Dr. 
Burney  can  not  be  purchased  for  less  than  £4 ;  a  second  edition 
of  the  five  volumes  quarto,  by  Hawkins,  has  been  published  by 
Mr.  Novello;  and,  nevertheless,  there  are  at  least  five  or  six 
more  Histories  of  Music  by  different  authors.  If,  on  the  other 
hand,  it  is  urged  that  a  portion  of  the  English  public  runs  after 
bad  music — and  we  are  reminded  of  those  concerts  at  which  the 
pit,  transformed  into  an  open  arena,  is  filled  with  men  who  walk 
about,  hat  on  head,  and  conversing  with  women — we  reply  that 
these  facts  prove  nothing.  Classical  music  is  a  thing  so  dcKcate, 
so  beyond  all  other,  that  it  requires  a  certain  culture  to  appreciate 
it.  Among  people  of  the  highest  civilization,  it  is  appreciated 
only  by  those  "\vho  are  endowed  with  artistic  taste,  and  neces- 
sarily the  mass  of  the  population  acquires  it  last ;  but  even  in  this 
respect  England  appears  to  me  to  be  the  most  advanced.  ISTo- 
where  do  the  masses  get  better  music,  which  is  as  much  as  to  say 
that  nowhere  are  the  masses  more  enlightened  with  respect  to 
music.  At  Mr.  Hullah's  concerts,  where  the  prices  of  admission 
are  one  and  two  shillings,  only  the  highest  class  of  works  is  per- 
formed, such  as  the  Requiem  of  Mozart,  the  Choral  Symphony 
of  Beethoven,  and  Handel's  Oratorios ;  and  these  great  works 
are  performed  with  the  greatest  taste  and  exactness.  In  the 
programme  of  a  concert  given  at  Canterbury,  where  the  prices 
were  the  same,  we  find  the  names  of  Handel,  Haydn,  and  Mo- 
zart. In  what  other  country  in  the  world  can  shillings  purchase 
such  exquisite  dehcacies  ?  In  France,  as  in  Germany,  the  hap- 
piness of  listening  to  a  symphony  is  a  sort  of  privilege  reserved 
exclusively  for  the  rich.  The  history  of  the  art  must  assign  to 
England  the  honor  and  the  merit  of  having  brought  that  noble 
and  beneficent  pleasure  witliin  reach  of  the  poor.  And  here  let 
us  do  honor  to  a  modest,  but  really  useful  man,  Mr.  HuUah. 
Music  is  not  only  a  pleasure,  but  it  is  one  of  the  most  healthy 
kinds  of  nourishment  for  the  mind.  Consult  the  criminal  statis- 
tics, and  it  is  extraordinary  how  small  a  number  of  musicians  are 
to  be  found  there.     Of  all  the  professions,  it  is  incontestably  this 


THE     STATE     OF     MUSIC    IN     ENGLAND.         455 

which  furnishes  the  smallest  number  of  recruits  to  the  prisons  and 
the  hulks,  and  the  smallest  number  of  victims  to  the  scaffold. 
Every  thing,  therefore,  which  renders  good  music  more  attain- 
able to  those  who  are  destitute  of  Avealth  is  a  real  moral  service 
to  society,  and  the  efforts  of  Mr.  Hullah  in  this  direction  deserve 
the  greatest  respect. 

But  what  we  have  said  proves  not  only  the  good  direction 
given  to  music,  but  also  the  progress  of  the  people.  These  chefs- 
d'oeuvre^  requiring  a  numerous  and  able  orchestra,  necessitate  great 
expenses  ;  and  therefore  the  speculator  who  risks  his  money  upon 
such  undertakings  must  have  certain  confidence  in  the  taste  and 
spirit  of  the  million. 

By  dint  of  searching  among  the  remotest  villages  of  the  Ger- 
manic Confederation,  a  man  may  be  found  Avho  does  not  know 
the  name  of  Mozart ;  and  perhaps  it  would  not  be  impossible  to 
meet  in  the  Pontine  Marshes  with  a  goatherd  who  never  heard 
of  Rossini ;  but  the  Englishman  does  not  exist  who  is  not  familiar 
with  the  name  of  Handel.  The  admiration  felt  here  for  him  is 
really  universal ;  his  name  has  certainly  penetrated  deeper  into 
the  population  than  those  of  his  rivals  in  their  own  countries. 
Far  more  Enghsh  have  heard  The  Messiah  than  Germans  the  Don 
Juan  or  the  Symphony  in  Z>,  or  Italians  II  Barhiere. 

France  is  very  far  indeed  from  having  made  equal  progress. 
Classical  music  is  there  confined  to  a  very  restricted  circle ;  and 
the  works  of  the  great  masters  are  forgotten,  or  at  least  ne- 
glected, with  the  exception  of  the  symphonies  and  such  music  as 
may  be  connected  with  theaters.  Since  the  death  of  the  austere 
Baillot,  there  have  been  none  of  those  instrumental  quatuors  and 
quintettes,  which  form  one  of  the  most  exquisitely  beautiful 
branches  of  the  art.  An  amateur  has  given,  in  a  too  short  series 
of  concerts,  some  music  of  Palestrina,  Orlando  Lassus,  Pergolesi, 
AUegri,  etc. ;  but  this  laudable  experiment  did  not  spread  beyond 
the  walls  of  a  private  house.  As  for  oratorios,  nothing  but  the 
Creation  has  been  heard  since  the  Directory,  with  the  exception 
of  Judas  MaccahcBus  and  The  Messiah,  feebly  executed  three  or 
four  times  before  an  audience  of  subscribers  by  a  society  of 
amateurs.  France,  it  must  be  confessed,  is,  in  this  respect,  un- 
worthy of  herself;  she  has  done  nothing  to  emulate  the  annual 
festivals  of  Germany  and  England,  where  imposing  choral  and 
instrumental  masses  are  used  to  render  fitly  the  epic  poems  of 
music ;  and  let  us  add,  that  in  England  they  are  executed  in  the 


456  APPENDIX. 

highest  style  of  excellence.  The  choruses,  consisting  of  from 
three  to  four  hundred  voices,  are  good,  when  they  are  well  con- 
ducted ;  the  orchestras  are  powerful ;  and  for  the  solo  parts  they 
have  Mesdames  Clara  Novello,  Lockey,  and  Dolby,  and  Messrs. 
Sims  Keeves  and  Lockey,  all  genuine  artists,  and  all  natives  of 
England.  Ever  since  the  now  remote  era  in  which  the  admirable 
Garcia  and  Pelligrini,  Mesdames  Pasta  and  Piesaroni  flourished, 
I  have  heard  all  the  singers  who  have  been  celebrated;  and, 
without  asserting  that  Madame  Clara  Novello  and  Mr.  Sims 
Reeves  are  equal  to  the  most  illustrious  of  these,  I  am  not  afraid 
to  say  that  they  are  only  second  to  them.  Neither  do  I  hesitate 
to  state  that  whoever  has  not  yet  heard  an  oratorio  executed  in 
London,  or  at  one  of  the  provincial  festivals,  has  not  tasted  the 
full  amount  of  delight  which  music  is  able  to  give  him. 

Thus,  then,  it  seems  that  the  bad  reputation  which  England 
has  on  the  Continent  as  a  musical  nation  arises  from  a  prejudice ; 
and  it  may  be  that  these  few  words  will  do  something  toward 
dissipating  it — not  because  I  have  the  vanity  to  suppose  that  my 
voice  is  powerful,  nor  because  I  have  stated  any  thing  particularly 
new,  but  because  I  have  stated  material  and  undoubted  facts. 
Nor  have  I  done  this  to  flatter  England  (for  I  have  lost  any  such 
desire),  but  simply  to  record  the  truth. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  EngUsh  entertain  some  prejudices  with 
respect  to  the  French.  Out  of  contempt  for  French  music,  none 
of  the  charming  works  of  Monsigny,  Catel,  Gretry,  Daleyrac, 
Mehul,  Boieldieu,  or  Berton  has  appeared  upon  an  English  stage 
for  nearly  a  century.  M.  Halevy's  Juive  has  indeed  been  given, 
but  without  (what  is  generally  considered  to  be  of  some  import- 
ance in  an  opera)  the  music.  Richard  Co&ur  de  Lion^  when 
translated,  could  win  no  admirers.  Burney  himself,  in  spite  of 
his  excellent  taste  and  his  fine  judgment,  has  not  escaped  that 
patriotic  prejudice.  His  enthusiasm  for  Gluck  is  very  moderate, 
because  his  genius  was  "  Frenchified."  "  Gluck's  music  is  so  truly 
dramatic,"  says  he,  '^  that  the  airs  and  scenes  which  have  the 
greatest  efiect  upon  the  stage  are  cold  and  rude  in  a  concert  (!  !). 
The  situation,  context,  and  interest  gradually  excited  in  an  audi- 
ence, gave  them  force  and  energy."  He  reproaches  Piccini  and 
Sacchini  with  having  had  "  a  complaisance  for  the  ancient  musical 
taste  of  France"  in  their  operas  for  our  stage.  To  his  eyes,  Gre- 
try himself,  "  who  brought  with  him  to  Paris  all  the  taste  of  Italy, 
in  compliance  with    the  French  language,  has  been    frequently 


THE    STATE    OF    MUSIC    IN    ENGLAND.        457 

obliged  to  sacrifice  it,  in  order  to  please  his  judges,  and  he  has,  at 
least,  improved  our  taste  as  much  as  we  have  corrupted  his"  (page 
624).  After  which,  he  adds,  in  the  most  serious  manner :  "  If 
good  music  and  performance  are  ever  heartily  felt  in  France,  it 
must  be  progressively ;  a  totally  different  style  of  singing  must  be 
adopted ;  otherwise  it  will  be  in  vain  for  the  greatest  composers, 
with  the  assistance  of  the  best  lyric  poets  in  the  universe,  to  at- 
tempt the  reformation."  Burney  did  not  perceive  that  all  his 
criticisms  against  the  French  school  actually  prove  the  individu- 
ahty  of  that  school;  that  it  has  a  style,  which  must  be  something, 
after  aU,  if,  "  in  spite  of  the  language,"  that  style  has  produced 
Gluck's  Armide,  Piccini's  JDidon,  Sacchini's  CEdipe  a  Colonne, 
Salieri's  Tarare,  Spontini's  La  Vestale,  Rossini's  Guillaume  Tell, 
Monsighy's  Le  Deserteur,  Champein's  La  Mtlomanie,  Gretry's 
Zemire  et  Azov,  Lesueur's  La  Caverne,  Catel's  VAuherge  de  Bag- 
neres,  Steibelt's  Romeo  et  Juliette,  Nicolo's  Cendrillon,  Cheru- 
bim's Les  Deux  Journtes,  Mehul's  Joseph,  Berton's  Afontano  et 
Stephani,  Daleyrac's  Maisoii  a  Vendre,  Delia  Maria's  Le  Prison- 
nier,  Devienne's  Les  Visitandines,  Boieldieu's  Ma  Tante  Aurore, 
Meyerbeer's  Robert  le  Liable,  Herold's  Le  Pre  awx  Clercs,  Hale- 
vy's  La  Jiiive — in  fact,  all  the  old  ripertoire  of  the  French  Optra 
Comiciue,m  which  Mehul  shines  conspicuous,  with  his  style  so 
vigorous,  so  strong,  so  eminently  French.  The  best  judges  de- 
clare that  it  can  not  be  denied  that  the  music  of  Rameau  is  a  cre- 
ation, that  that  of  Philidor,  the  author  of  Le  Border  and  the 
Marichal,  is  remarkable  for  the  novelty  of  its  forms,  and  they 
speak  of  Gossec  as  a  composer  of  the  fii-st  order.  Is  it  not  also 
to  the  French  school  that  the  following  singers  belong  ?  Carat, 
Martin,  Lais,  the  Nourrits  (father  and  son),  M"*^-  Branchu,  M"^- 
Rigaut,  M"'^-  Damoreau,  M.  del  Sarte,  M.  Ponchard,  and,  finally, 
the  greatest  of  all  modern  singers,  M.  Duprez, 

Since  I  have  adventured  upon  this  ground,  let  it  be  added  that 
France  has  not  taken  up  a  position  in  musical  history  only  to-day. 
From  the  fourteenth  century  to  the  end  of  the  sixteenth,  the 
French  and  the  Flemish  were  the  sole  cultivators  of  that  divine 
art.  At  that  time  Italy  produced  nothing,  and  only  performed 
the  works  of  the  composers  of  France  and  Flanders.  In  the  cat- 
alogue of  Petrucci,  the  inventor  of  music  printing  (at  Venice, 
1502),  nothing  but  French  and  Flemish  masses  are  to  be  found. 
It  is  also  a  French  composer,  Claude  Goudimel,  who  had  the 
honor  of  being  Palestrina's  master.     The  Pope's  chapels  were  at 

20 


458  APPENDIX. 

that  time  served  only  by  French  and  Flemish  singers.  The  old 
French  school  began  to  decline  under  Henri  Quatre,  and  expired 
in  the  reign  of  Louis  XIII.,  because  Richelieu  was  not  fond  of 
music ;  but  it  flourished  anew  after  Louis  XIV.  attained  his  ma- 
jority, and  the  Optra  Frangais  was  founded  in  1671.*  Although 
this  was  inspired  at  first  by  Italian  taste,  it  quickly  assumed  its 
own  colors,  and  we  have  already  seen  what  it  produced.  It 
should  not  be  forgotten  that  Gluck  and  the  Italians  who  have 
written  for  the  French,  have  written  in  the  French  style.  Ros- 
sini himself,  in  spite  of  his  characteristic  individuality,  has  not 
escaped  that  powerful  influence.  No  one  will  say  that  the  won- 
derful author  of  H  Barhiere  and  the  profound  author  of  GuiUaume 
Tell  are  not  two  different  kinds  of  genius  in  the  same  man.  Cho- 
ron,  in  spite  of  his  Italiomania,  confesses  that  LuUy,  the  creator 
of  the  French  Opera,  formed  a  style  for  himself — "  composed  as 
much  French  as  Italian  melody."!  But  even  this  opinion  reflected 
some  of  his  prejudices;  for  Lully  was  brought  to  France  in  1647, 
when  only  fourteen  years  old,  and  his  style  is  thoroughly  French. 
But  this  would  carry  the  discussion  to  too  great  a  length  for  my 
present  purpose,  and  therefore  I  will  here  conclude ;  hoping,  for 
the  future,  that  the  two  countries  will  henceforth  render  each 
other  more  justice  in  matters  appertaining  to  music. 


APPENDIX  O. 

HANDEL'S  HOUSE. 

With  reference  to  the  house  in  Brook-street  which  was  inhab- 
ited by  Handel,  I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  Robert  Lonsdale  for  the 

following   document.     It   proves   that   Handel  was   established 

• 

*  In  1645,  Mazarin  brought  over  at  great  expense  an  Italian  company,  which 
sang,  among  other  things,  Montevcrde's  Orfeo;  but  the  Parisians  had  no  taste  for 
such  an  amusement,  and  the  Italian  company  departed.  Mazarin  returned  to  the 
charge  in  1660,  and  gave  Italian  operas  again  for  the  fetes  in  honor  of  Louis  the 
Fourteenth's  marriage.  This  music,  which  was  still  nothing  better  than  a  ryth- 
mical declamation,  was  decidedly  displeasing  to  the  French,  who  were  accustomed 
to  the  easy  and  agreeable  melody  of  their  own  songs,  and  the  Italians  were  once 
more  obliged  to  go.  But  these  performances  gave  to  Cambere,  organist  to  the 
Church  of  St.  Honore,  the  idea  of  imitating  them  in  a  French  pastoral.  The 
scheme  was  successful,  and  procured  for  him  a  privilege  to  establish  a  French 
opera.  The  first  work  which  was  represented  there  in  1761  was  called  Poinone. 
Lully,  having  risen  into  favor  with  Louis  XIV.,  supplanted  Cambere  in  this  priv- 
ilege, and  organized  the  opera  completely  with  Quinault. 

t  Sommaire  dc  VHintoire  de  la  Musiquc,  in  the  Dictionnaire  des  Musiciena. 


THE     MESSIAH.  469 

there  at  any  rate  in  1725  (perhaps  sooner,  but  that  can  not  be 
verified),  and  that  he  remained  there  until  his  death  : 

"St,  George's,  Hanover  Square,  Board  Room, 
Mouut-street,   11th  March,  1857, 

"  Dear  Sir — This  parish  was  created  and  made  a  separate  and 
distinct  parish  from  St.  Martin-in-the-Fields  in  1725,  and  the 
rate-books  being  carefully  preserved,  I  have  searched  them  from 
the  beginning,  and  find  on  the  first  book  for  the  year  1725,  made 
for  the  poor-rate,  that  George  Frederic  Handel,  Esq.,  was  rated 
at  £35  per  annum  for  a  house  in  Brook-street,  being  then  the 
fourth  house  rated  in  that  street ;  the  house  before  his  was  rated 
in  the  name  of  Catharine  Johnston,  and  the  house  next  following 
to  his  was  rated  to  John  Mountain,  Esq,  On  following  up  the 
search,  I  find  that  Mr.  Handel  continued  rated  for  the  same  house 
up  to  the  year  1759  inclusive,  his  two  neighbors  being  then  Sarah 
Hunt  instead  of  Catharine  Johnston,  and  Lord  Ducie  Morton  in- 
stead of  John  Mountain,  Esq.  In  the  year  1760,  John  Duburk 
was  rated  for  the  fourth  house  instead  of  G,  F.  Handel. 

"  I  regret  I  can  give  you  no  further  information  in  reference  to 
your  interesting  inquiries  after  the  great  man ;  and  I  remain,  dear 
sir,  etc., 

"  T.  R.  Chappell,  Vestry  Clerk. 

"  To  R.  Lonsdale,  Esq." 

Handel's  servant,  John  Duburk,  who,  as  we  have  already  seen, 
purchased  Handel's  furniture,  therefore  became  the  tenant  of  the 
house,  which  he  doubtless  converted  into  a  lodging-house,  in  the 
expectation  that  the  memory  of  his  master  would  attract  visitors. 


APPENDIX  P. 

WHERE  WAS  "THE  MESSIAH"  EIRST  PRODUCED? 

Mainwaring  asserts  that  the  gi-eat  oratorio  was  produced  in 
London  for  the  first  time,  and  was  received  badly — "Even  his 
Messiah  had  met  in  London  with  a  cold  reception."*  Burney 
makes  the  same  statement  in  his  Account  of  the  Commemoration; 
but  he  afterward  came  to  be  of  a  contrary  opinion  when  he 
wrote  the  fourth  volume  of  his  History  of  Music,  but  without  any 
♦  Page  131. 


4G0  APPENDIX. 

very  great  proof.  Thus  it  is  that,  for  more  than  a  century,  the 
biographers  have,  one  after  anotlier,  bhndly  repeated  Mainwar- 
ing's  assertion,  Mr.  Westrop  alone  (in  his  preface  to  his  edition 
of  The  Messiah^  published  by  Purday)  has  taken  the  trouble  to 
add  some  particulars :  he  very  carefully  fixes  the  date  of  the  fall 
at  the  12th  of  September,  1741 — precisely  two  days  before  the 
oratorio  M^as  finished !  Hawkins  explains  that  The  Messiah  was 
first  of  all  given  at  Co  vent  Garden,  in  1741,  under  the  name  of 
A  Sacred  Oratorio.  "  As  it  consisted  chiefly  of  choruses,  and  the 
airs  contained  in  it  were  greatly  inferior  to  most  of  his  operas 
and  former  oratorios,  it  was  but  coldly  received  by  the  audience."* 
Sir  John  Hawkins,  although  not  devoid  of  a  certain  amount  of 
taste,  and  although  he  was  a  great  Handelian,  had  more  than  one 
opinion  equally  eccentric.  He  says,  for  example,  that  the  mag- 
nificent air  in  Judas  Maccahceus,  ''  Come,  ever  smihng  Liberty," 
was  written  "  to  fascinate  the  vulgar!"! 

In  spite  of  the  great  inferiority  of  its  airs,  and  wdiatever  may 
be  the  confidence  which  Mainwaring  and  Hawkins  deserve,  it  is 
certain  that  the  masterpiece  of  sacred  music  did  not  fail  at  its 
first  performance  in  London.  The  Irishman,  Mr.  Townsend,  has 
cleared  that  city  from  such  a  stain,  by  putting  beyond  all  man- 
ner of  doubt  the  fact  of  the  first  performance  taking  place  in 
Dublin. 

Some  discussion  upon  the  point  will  certainly  not  appear  out 
of  place  in  a  work  like  this. 

And,  in  the  first  place ;  the  Rev.  John  Mainwaring  had  him- 
self seen  nothing  of  that  which  he  recounts,  and,  being  still  very 
young  for  a  writer,  he  made  statements  without  verifying  them. 
The  appearance  of  The  Messiah  dated  twenty  years  back  when 
he  wrote  his  book,  and  the  information  which  he  had  respecting 
the  circumstances  which  attended  it  was  derived  from  nothing 
but  rumor.  He  states,  for  example,  that,  when  Handel  arrived 
in  Dublin,  "  the  first  step  was  to  perform  his  Messiah  for  the  ben- 
efit of  the  city  prison."J  Whereas,  on  the  corntary,  we  know 
fi-om  the  journals,  that  it  was  the  last  step.  The  anecdote  about 
Janson,  at  Chester,  implies  that  the  oratorio  had  never  been 
given.  Burney  says  expressly,  that  "he  wished  to  prove  some 
books  that  had  been  hastily  transcribed."!  If  the  work  had  been 
already  performed,  Handel  would  have  had  no  need  to  verify  the 

*  Page  890  (358  of  the  5th  vol.  of  the  first  edition).  t  Page  913. 

X  Page  132.  §  Page  26  of  The  Commemoration. 


THE    MESSIAH.  411 

copies  at  Chester.  All  the  Dublin  advertisements,  whether  of  the 
rehearsal  or  of  the  performances,  speak  of  it  as  the  "  new  grand 
oratorio ;"  an  expression  which  is  not  applied  to  any  other  of 
the  works  which  he  produced  at  Dublin.  *  Faulkner's  Journal,  as 
we  have  seen,  in  announcing  the  general  rehearsals,  adds: — 
u  *  *  rjij-^g  noble  and  great  charity  for  which  this  oratorio 
WAS  COMPOSED."  Evcn  supposing  that  Handel  had  not  been  as 
honest  a  man  as  he  was,  he  would  not  have  suffered  such  an  an- 
nouncement to  appear  in  public  if  The  Messiah  had  already  been 
heard  in  London.  Moreover,  contradiction  was  too  easy.  In 
the  tliird  place,  we  find  that  in  his  letter  to  Jennens  of  the  29th 
of  December,  1742,  he  says,  ''  I  had  received  the  Lines  you  was 
pleased  to  send  me,  in  order  to  be  prefixed  to  your  oratorio  Mes- 
siah^ which  I  set  to  musick  before  I  left  England."  It  is  evident 
that  if  the  oratorio  had  been  produced  in  London,  the  author  of 
the  words  would  have  had  no  more  mottoes  to  add,  and  the 
writer  of  the  letter  would  not  have  had  to  employ  that  expres- 
sion, "  which  I  set  to  musick  before  I  left  England." 

There  are  other  proofs  not  less  conclusive.'  The  MS.  of  The 
Messiah  is  inscribed :  "  Ausgefiillt  den  14  September"  (finished 
on  the  14th  of  September) ;  that  of  Samson :  "  End  of  the  first 
act,  September  29th."  As  Handel  finished  the  first  act  of  Sam- 
son on  the  29th  of  September,  he  must  have  commenced  it,  at 
least,  on  the  21st  or  the  22d  at  the  latest.  How  was  it  possible, 
between  the  14th  and  22d,  to  copy,  rehearse,  and  perform  the 
immense  score,  which  was  itself  improvised  in  twenty-three 
days?  Besides  this,  the  pubhc  journals  of  Dublin  announce 
formally  his  arrival  in  that  city  on  the  18th  of  November.  Al- 
lowing a  fortnight  for  the  journey,  including  the  stoppage  at 
Chester  (and  the  king's  viceroy,  with  a  favorable  wind,  and  six- 
teen relays  of  horses,  required  five  days  for  the  same  journey), 
he  must  have  quitted  London  about  the  4th  of  November. 
Moreover,  it  is  not  possible  to  admit  that  The  Messiah  could  have 
appeared  between  the  29th  of  October  (the  date  of  the  com- 
pletion of  Samson)  and  the  4th  of  November,  in  the  midst  of  the 
preparations  for  his  journey,  and,  above  all,  the  journey  of  a 
manager  who  was  taking  several  artists  with  him — notably  Sg^. 
Avolio.  Finally,  not  one  of  the  London  journals  announces  The 
Messiah,  either  in  September,  October,  or  November,  1741. 
Burney  has  already  stated  this,  and  I  affirm  it  once  more,  having 
verified  the  fact.     Mr.  Cradock  relates  the  following: — "In  my 


462  APPENDIX. 

early  youth  I  was  at  times  present  at  a  musical  treat,  chiefly 
given  by  amateurs  at  Mr.  Jennyng's  house,  at  Gopsal,  in  our 
county  (Leicestershire),  who  possessed  a  good  organ,  with  Han- 
del's portrait  in  front  of  it,  where  Handel  himself  had  frequently 
presided  when  the  words  of  The  Messiah*  were  first  selected. 
The  oratorio  was  soon  afterward  brought  out  in  London,  and  the 
great 'Hallelujah  Chorus' t  was  intended  for  the  conclusion;  but 
finding  that  the  second  act  hung  heavily,  and  that  some  disap- 
pointment began  to  be  expressed,  Handel  rushed  forward,  and 
commanded  the  last  chorus  to  be  then  performed.  This  was 
most  triumphantly  encored,  and  this  expedient  completely  saved 
that  inspired  oratorio."J 

If  this  story  be  true,  Handel  must  have  composed  The  Messiah 
at  Gopsall,  and  have  come  "soon  afterward"  to  produce  it  at 
London.  Here  we  have,  in  addition,  a  long  journey  to  place  be- 
tween the  14th  of  September,  when  The  Messiah  was  concluded, 
and  the  22d,  when  Samson  was  commenced.  And  when  could 
the  composer  find  time  to  produce  his  new  oratorio  soon  after  the 
14th  of  September,  when  he  was  writing  the  great  score  of  Sam- 
son between  the  22d  of  that  month  and  the  29th  of  October  ? 
I  even  refuse  to  believe  that  The  Messiah  was  written  at  GopsaU, 
as  many  have  asserted  upon  the  faith  of  Cradock's  obscure  state- 
ment. The  interval  between  the  two  masterpieces  is  too  short, 
and  the  distance  from  London  to  Gropsall  is  too  long  for  that  to 
be  credible.  At  that  time,  certainly  not  less  than  two  days  were 
required  for  this  journey  of  115  to  120  miles.  As  for  the  story 
about  the  "  Hallelujah  Chorus,"  it  is  very  dramatic,  but  nothing 
more.  Grreat  as  this  chorus  is,  it  could  never  have  saved  any 
thing  with  an  audience  which  found  the  act  which  it  terminates 

*  From  this  it  may  be  concluded  that  Handel  had  something  to  do  -with  the 
compilation  of  The  Messiah.  It  may  be  understood  from  these  words,  that  he 
■who  presided  at  the  organ  had  also  a  voice  in  the  choice  of  the  words. 

t  Ilallehijah  is  a  Hebrew  word,  derived  from  Hallelu  (praise),  and  Jah,  the 
abbreviation  of  Jehovah  (he  that  is  eternal).  Jehovah  is  the  name  under  which 
the  divine  Spirit  revealed  itself  to  Moses  on  Mount  Sinai.  It  is  a  sacred  name 
with  the  Jews,  who  only  pronounce  it  on  great  religious  solemnities,  and  with  the 
greatest  reverence.  The  Hebi'aist  who  has  furnished  me  with  this  explanation 
adds,  that  Hallelujah  is  pronounced  Hallelouyah,  but  it  is  written  Hallelujah — 
the  Hebrew  alphabet  not  containing  the  letter  y.  So  the  English,  who  preserve 
the  orthography  of  foreign  words,  are  correct  in  writing  Hallelujah.  It  is  said 
that  it  was  St.  Jerome  who  introduced  it  into  the  music  of  the  Romish  Church, 
ha\'ing  taken  it  from  the  Greek  form  of  worship ;  in  which,  I  believe,  it  is  nsed 
only  once  a  year. 

t  Literat'y  and  Miscellaneous  Memoirs,  by  Cradock,  page  124. 


THE    MESSIAH.  463 

"  hang  heavily."  It  has  never  occupied  any  other  place  than  that 
which  it  now  holds.  In  the  original  MS.  it  closes  the  second  act, 
which  is  signed  and  dated.  From  the  very  first  performance  the 
oratorio  had  its  "  Hallelujah"  at  the  end  of  the  second  act,  and 
its  admirable  "  Amen"*  at  the  end  of  the  third.  It  should  not  be 
forgotten  that  Cradock,  who  was  born  in  1742,  only  .spoke  by 
oral  tradition,  and  a  tradition  gathered  in  "  early  youth,"  to  which 
he  did  not  himself  attach  any  importance.  He  did  not  even  know 
how  to  spell  the  name  of  Jennens. 

Mr.  Gardiner,  in  attempting  to  refute  some  of  Mr.  Townsend's 
statements,  says :  "  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  The  Messiah 
was  first  performed  in  London.  I  learned  it  from  a  conversation 
I  had  with  Mr.  Cradock,  who  told  me  that  Mr.  Mainwaring  was 
present  at  the  performancey  a.nd  that  at  the  end  of  the  second  part 
he  heard  Handel  call  out,  '  Go  to  the  Hallelujah !'  This  origin- 
ally was  the  finishing  chorus,"  etc.t  Mr.  Gardiner  repeats  thiy 
in  a  letter  to  the  Duhlin  Daily  Express,  of  the  14th  of  June, 
1853,  adding  that  Cradock  "  had  the  fact  from  Dr.  Mainwarmg 
himself."  It  is  certain  that  Cradock,  in  liis  Literary  and  Miscel- 
laneous Memoirs,  speaks  of  Mainwaring  several  times,  and  calls 
him  "my  much  honored  friend;"  but  in  truth  he  quotes  his 
friend  without  much  authority.  In  his  own  memoirs,:^  the  editor, 
Nichols,  says,  in  a  note,  "  Mainwaring  also  published  anonymously 
a  life  of  Handel  (8vo,  1760).  He  died  at  Cambridge  in  April, 
1807,  aged  seventy-two,  and  was  succeeded  as  professor  by  the 
learned  Dr.  Marsh."  The  same  note  is  also  to  be  found  in  Nichols's 
Literary  Anecdotes.^  John  Mainwaring  was,  therefore,  six  years 
old  at  the  time  (1741)  when  he  witnessed  that  dramatic  scene  of 
"  Go  to  the  Hallelujah  !"  And  the  memory  of  tliis  cliild  of  six 
years  becomes  all  the  more  suiprising  when  we  find  that,  on 
arriving  at  a  reasonable  age,  he  fixes  the  first  performance  of  The 
Messiah,  the  particulars  of  which  he  so  well  recollected,  at  the 
12th  of  April,  1741,  ||  which  is  more  than  four  months  before  Han- 
del had  written  a  note  of  it. 

*  This  "Amen"  is  a  work  not  less  magnificent  than  the  "  Hallelujah  ;"  yet,  at 
each  performance  of  it,  the  more  vulgar  portion  of  the  audience  hastens  toward 
the  door,  in  order  to  get  the  most  convenient  places  for  going  out.  They  will  not 
listen  to  this  marvelous  piece  themselves,  and  the  noise  of  their  procession  pre- 
vents persons  of  good  taste  from  enjoying  it.  There  should  be  an  act  of  Parlia- 
ment to  punish  every  person  who  rises  from  his  seat  before  the  last  note  of  the 
"  Amen,"  with  a  deprivation  of  hearing  The  Messiah  for  twelve  calendar  months- 

t  Mudc  and  Friends,  vol.  iii.,  p.  361. 

t  Vol.  iv.,  p.  228.  §  Vol.  viii.,  p.  380.  II  Page  152. 


4t^4  APPENDIX. 

Mr.  Hogarth  also  supports  the  assertion  as  to  the  first  perform- 
ance being  in  London  during  September,  1741 :  '^  The  MS.,"  says 
he,  "  bears  '  fine  dell'  oratorio  7bre  12th,'  and  below  is  written 
'  au^gefiillt  den  14  dieses,'  that  is  to  say,  performed  on  the  14th.'' 
It  has  been  pointed  out,  however,  that  the  meaning  of  the  word 
ausgefiiUt  is  not  performed^  but  filled  vp,  completed.  Handel,  in 
composing,  only  wrote  the  subject,  and  the  bass,  then  filled  up 
the  orchestration  afterward.*  It  was  this  last  operation  which  he 
noted,  with  his  habitual  and  minute  exactness,  by  the  word 
"  ausgefiillt,"  filled  up.  If  he  had  intended  to  signify  that  it  was 
performed,  he  would  have  written  ausgefiihrt.  One  is  only 
astonished  that  musicians,  like  Mr.  Hogarth  and  M.  Fetis  (who 
repeats  the  same  thing),  did  not  reflect  upon  the  physical  impossi- 
bility of  mounting  such  a  work  in  two  days.  The  rectified  trans- 
lation of  the  word  "  ausgefiillt"  is  confirmed  by  another  proof, 
taken  from  the  MSS.  At  the  end  of  Berenice  we  find  "  fine  dell' 
opera,  January  18th,  1737  ;"  and  below  '•'  ausgufullen,"  which  sig- 
nifies to  he  filled  up,  and  lower  still,  "geendiget  den  27th  January, 
1737,"  that  is  to  sa,y,  finished  on  the  27th  of  January. 

And  to  the  preceding  may  be  added  the  personal  deposition  of 
Dr.  Quin,  of  Dublin,  who  knew  Handel  when  he  visited  Ireland. 
'•  The  Messiah"  he  says,  "  I  am  thoroughly  convinced,  was  per- 
formed in  Dublin /or  the  first  time,  and  with  the  greatest  applause. 
Mrs.  Gibber  and  Signora  Avolio  were  the  principal  performers. 
These,  with  the  assistance  of  the  choristers  of  St.  Patrick's  Ca- 
thedral and  Christ  Church,  formed  the  vocal  band ;  and  Dubourg, 
with  several  instrumental  performers,  composed  a  very  respectable 
orchestra."t  The  details  of  this  testimony,  which  was  given  in 
1788,  being  all  proved  to  be  exact  (by  authentic  documents  dis- 
covered since),  give  great  credibility  to  the  principal  statement. 

One  word  more.  The  Daily  Advertiser  of  the  31st  of  March, 
1743,  contains  some  vei'ses  upon  Tlie  Messiah,  which  will  presently 
be  quoted.  The  insertion  of  these  verses  on  the  31st  of  March, 
1743,  is  another  proof  in  support  of  my  opinion,  for  it  perfectly 
correspends  Avith  tliree  performances  of  that  year ;  and  it  is  to 
be  remarked,  that  the  author  of  the  verses  calls  them,  "  Extem- 
pore on  Mr.  Handel's  New  Oratorio."  Certainly,  if  the  work  had 
made  its  appearance  in  1741,  the  defender  of  Handel  would  not 
have  qualified  it  as  "  new''  in  1743. 

There  is  no  longer  any  doubt,  therefore,  that  Tlie  Messiah  was 
•  See  "  Catalogue."  t  Burney,  p.  662. 


PRETENDED      PLAGIARISMS.  465 

performed  for  the  first  time  at  Dublin,  in  1742,  and  that  it  was 
not,  as  has  been  a  thousand  times  ass(jrt(!d,  produced  in  Loudon, 
in  1741. 

APPENDIX   Q. 

"HOW  BEAUTIFUL." 

In  looking  more  carefully  into  the  matter,  I  find  that  the  version 
of  '*  How  beautiful"  in  C  minor,  as  given  by  Arnold,  is  not  first 
furnished  by  him,  as  stated  on  p.  284,  but  is  added  by  Smith  at  the 
end  of  his  copy  of  The  Messiah,  belonging  to  the  Lennard  collec- 
tion. There  is  also  to  be  found  in  this  appendix  the  air,  "  He 
shall  feed  his  flock,"  written  for  two  voices;  although  in  the  body 
of  the  copy  he  has  only  given  it  for  a  single  voice,  as  all  the  other 
copies  have  it,  as  well  as  the  original  MS.  Wliatever  confidence 
Smith  may  deserve,  it  is  permitted  to  doubt  that  his  appendix  to 
The  Messiah  in  the  Lennard  collection  had  the  approbation  of 
Handel,  It  has  been  seen  (at  page  235)  that  the  excellent  Smith 
did  not  always  respect  the  heritage  of  his  master  as  much  as  could 
be  desh-ed. 

APPENDIX  R. 

PRETENDED   PLAGIARISMS. 

Mr.  V.  NovELLO,  a  learned  modem  publisher,  has  informed  us, 
in  the  preface  to  his  edition  of  PurcelTs  Sacred  Music,  that  ten 
movements  of  the  Dettmgen  Te  Deum  are  borrowed  from  a 
similar  work  by  Francisco  Antonio  Uria,  some  of  whose  works 
were  pubhshed  at  Bologna,  1697.  Handel,  says  he,  "  picked  up 
a  pebble,  and  changed  it  into  a  diamond.  One  can  only  regret 
that  he  had  not  the  candor  to  own  from  whom  he  borrowed  the 
pebble."  According  to  Mr.  Macfarren,  Handel  was  guilty  of 
many  larcenies  of  this  kind.  Thus  the  chorus  in  The  Messiah, 
"And  with  his  stripes,"  is  identically  the  same  as  a  fugue  by 
Bach,  which  Mr.  Macfarren  does  not  name ;  and  the  chorus  in 
Acts,  "  Wretched  lovers,"  has  for  its  principal  movement  that  of 
another  fiigue  by  Bach,  which  also  he  does  not  name.*  The 
great  accused  may  say,  like  Moliere,  when  he  used  something 
*  Musical  World  for  1840,  page  200. 
20* 


466  APPENDIX. 

from  Cyrano  de  Bergerac  :  "  Je  prends  mon  bien  ou  je  le  trouve" 
(I  take  my  property  wherever  I  find  it)  ;  but  it  would  be  doubly 
astonishing  to  find  that  Handel,  ordinarily  so  conscientious,  should 
conceal  such  acquisitions.  He  knew  too  much  to  dissemble 
about  what  others  had  taught  him.  He  had  always  a  rare  loy- 
alty of  character.  He  wrote  the  little  pastoral  symphony  which 
precedes  the  arrival  of  the  shepherds  in  The  Messiah^  out  of  one 
of  the  melodies  which  the  Pifferari  of  Calabria  have  sung  at 
Kome,  during  the  holy  week,  from  time  immemorial ;  but  he 
took  care  to  acknowledge  it  upon  the  MS.,  and  did  not  wish  that 
any  one  should  be  deceived  about  it.  Why  not  have  acted  in 
the  same  manner  with  regard  to  the  other  pieces  which  he  har- 
rowed ?  He  who  was  so  rich  I  Dr.  Eimbault,  who,  in  the  pre- 
face to  his  fine  edition  of  The  Messiah  for  the  Handel  Society, 
has  given  the  entire  melody  of  the  Pifferari,  is  very  learned  in 
music,,  and  if  he  had  recognized  Bach's  fugue  in  the  chorus, 
"  And  with  his  stripes,"  he  would  have  given  that  also. 

Mr.  Sterndale  Bennett,  in  his  preface  to  Acis,  for  the  edition 
of  the  Handel  Society,  has  occasion  to  speak  twice  of  the  chorus 
"  Wretched  lovers,"  but  says  nothing  of  its  identity  with  one  of 
Bach's  fugues.  Bach  was  a  cotemporary  of  Handel ;  his  admirable 
fiagues  were  very  well  known,  and  it  is  not  probable  that  Han- 
del, whose  own  fecundity  was  so  abundant,  would  have  had  the 
boldness  to  appropriate  two  ideas  belonging  to  another  man, 
whose  genius  was  often  put  in  comparison  with  his  own. 

Sir  G.  Smart,  in  his  preface  to  the  Dettingen  Te  Deum,  for  the 
Handel  Society,  says: — "Handel  did  not  borrow  pebbles,  but 
polished  diamonds."  But  why,  in  imitation  of  Dr.  Rimbault,  did 
he  not  give  his  readers  the  opportunity  of  estimating  the  relative 
value  of  the  diamonds  ?  When  a  great  artist  like  Handel  is  ac- 
cused of  theft,  the  proofs  should  be  exhibited  openly ;  for  it  is  a 
curious  fact  that  while  the  author  of  The  Messiah  confessed  the 
adoption  of  the  Pifferari  hymn  in  the  little  pastoral  symphony, 
Mr.  Macfarren  reproaches  him  for  not  having  acknowledged  that 
he  had  borrowed  it  from  an  old  English  ballad  called  Parthenia. 
These  pretended  thefts  are  nothing  but  accidental  resemblances, 
fugitive,  and  quite  involuntary. 

I  do  not  refer  to  what  Dr.  Crotch  says  upon  the  subject,  in  his 
Overtures  Choruses^  Symphonies^  and  Marches  of  Handel  adapted 
for  the  Piano.  If  he  is  to  be  believed,  Handel  was  never  any 
thing  but  a  plagiarist,  who  passed  his  life  in  seeking  ideas  out  of 


TRICES    OF    PLACES.  46t 

every  corner.  There  is  scarcely  one  note  by  him  which,  accord- 
ing to  the  discoveries  of  the  doctor,  has  not  been  stolen  from  Leo, 
Luther,  Porta,  Pergolese,  Carissimi,  Stephani,  Kulnau,  Tale  man, 
Graun,  Vinci,  Bononcini,  Bach,  Corelli,  and  other  well-known 
models,  such  as  Padre  Uria,  Calvisius,  Ilabermann,  MufFat,  Kerl, 
Morley,  Cesti,  Turni,  etc.,  etc.  There  are  portraits  of  Crotch 
which  represent  him  playing  upon  the  organ,  at  the  age  of  three 
years.  He  so  astonished  the  world  by  his  prodigious  precocities 
that  he  was  called  ''  the  Musical  Phenomenon."  This  extraor- 
dinary child  became  one  of  the  most  ordinary  of  doctors,  and 
we  see  how  he  employed  his  time. 


APPENDIX   S. 
PRICES  OF  PLACES. 

Handel,  from  the  very  commencement  of  his  management  to 
the  end  of  his  Ufe,  invariably  charged  his  places  at  the  same 
price: — ''Pit  and  boxes  to  be  put  together,  at  half  a  guinea 
each ;  first  gallery,  5s. ;  second  gallery,  3s.  6d.,"  whether  for  op- 
eras or  oratorios,  and  whether  at  the  Hay  market,  at  Covent  Gar- 
den, or  at  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields.  These  very  high  terms  are  stereo- 
typed in  all  his  advertisements.  The  London  Daily  Post  of  the 
20th  of  June,  1737,  says  again: — "Pit  and  boxes  (or  front  boxes) 
to  be  put  together ;"  an  announcement  wliich  is  explained  by  the 
following,  which  may  frequently  be  found : — "  The  pit  will  be 
floored  over  and  laid  to  the  boxes"  {London  Daily  Post,  23d 
June,  1737).  We  find  this  in  all  the  advertisements  of  Handel, 
whether  at  the  Haymarket  or  at  Covent  G-arden,  at  the  repre- 
sentations of  operas,  as  w^ell  as  at  the  performances  of  oratorios. 
The  same  thing  is  to  be  noticed  in  the  advertisements  of  the  thea- 
ter which  was  supported  by  the  nobiHty,  and  we  must  conclude 
that  the  representation  of  Italian  operas  and  oratorfos  had  always 
a  certain  solemnity,  and  that  they  took  away  from  persons  of 
slender  means  the  five-shilling  pit  in  order  to  get  half  a  guinea 
by  raising  it  to  a  level  with  the  boxes.  The  fi:equenters  of  the 
pit  were  therefore  obliged  to  take  refuge  in  the  galleries. 


468  APPENDIX. 

APPENDIX  T. 

ONE   OF  HANDEL'S  CONVERSATIONS. 

It  was  probably  to  the  period  when  Handel  suffered  from  the 
first  attacks  of  the  gutia  serena,  that  the  interesting  scene  which 
is  humorously  described  in  Mr.  Ephraim  Hardcastle's  Somerset 
House  Gazette:'^  probably  belongs.  The  author  relates  that  he  had 
a  good  old  uncle,  Zachary  Hardcastle,  a  retired  merchant,  who 
was  intimately  acquainted  with  aU  the  most  distinguished  men  of 
his  time,  artists,  poets,  musicians,  and  physicians.  This  old  gen- 
tleman, who  lived  in  Paper  Buildings,  was  accustomed  to  take  his 
morning  walk  in  the  garden  of  Somerset  House,  where  he  hap- 
pened to  meet  with  another  old  man,  CoUey  Cibber,t  and  proposed 
to  him  to  go  and  hear  a  competition  wliich  was  to  take  place  at 
mid-day  for  the  post  of  organist  to  the  Temple,  and  he  invited  him 
to  breakfast,  telling  him  at  the  same  time  that  Dr.  Pepusch  and  Dr. 
Arne  were  to  be  with  him  at  nine  o'clock.  They  go  in ;  Pepusch 
arrives  punctually  at  the  stroke  of  nine ;  presently  there  is  a 
knock,  the  door  is  opened,  and  Handel  presents  liimself  Then 
follows  the  scene : 

"  Handel :  '  Yat !  mine  dear  friendt  Hardgasdle — ^Yat !  you 
are  merry  py  dimes.  Vat !  and  Misder  Golley  Gibbers  too  !  aye, 
Togder  Peepbush  as  veil!  Veil,  dat  is  gomigal.  Veil,  mine 
friendts,  andt  how  vags  the  vorldt  mid  you,  mine  tdears?  Bray, 
bray,  do  let  me  sit  town  a  momend.' 

"  Pepusch  took  the  great  man's  hat ;  Colley  Gibber  took  his 
stick;  and  my  great  uncle  wheeled  round  his  reading-chair, 
which  was  somewhat  about  the  dimensions  of  that  in  which  our 
kings  and  queens  are  crowned ;  and  then  the  great  man  sat  him 
down. 

"  '■  Veil,  1  thank  you,  gendlemen ;    now  I  am  at  mine  ease 

*  Two  large  volumes  in  4to.     Nos.  3  and  4  of  the  first  vol.,  1823. 

t  Colley  Gibber  was  a  comedian,  dramatic  author,  and  p.pet  laureate  in  the  reign 
of  George  II.  He  was  celebrated  for  the  wittiness  of  his  repartees  arid  his  quar- 
rels with  Pope.  He  made  his  dihut  upon  the  stage  in  1689,  at  the  age  of 
eighteen,  and  began  by  playing  gratis  for  nine  months,  after  which  he  received 
ten  shillings  per  week,  afterward  fifteen,  and  afterward  twenty.  He  quitted  the 
stage  in  1731,  when  his  reputation  was  at  its  licight,  and  afterward  appeared  from 
time  to  time  at  fifty  guineas  for  each  performance. — Life  of  Colley  Gibber^  ap- 
pendpd  to  his  draniiitic  works.     TTp  died  in  175T  at  the  age  of  eighty-six. 


ONE    OP     HANDEL'S    CONVERSATIONS.      469 

vonce  more.  Ilbon  mine  vord,  dat  is  a  bictiire  of  a  ham.  It  ia 
very  pold  of  me  to  c^omo  to  preak  my  fasdt  mid  you  uninvided  ; 
and  I  have  brought  along  mid  me  a  nodable  abbetite;  for  tlie 
wader  of  old  Fader  Dems  [Thames],  is  it  not  a  fine  pracer  of  the 
stomach  ?' 

"  '  You  do  me  great  honor,  Mister  Handel,'  said  my  great 
uncle.     *  I  take  this  early  visit  as  a  gi'eat  kindness.' 

"  '  A  delightful  morning  for  the  water/  said  Colley  Gibber. 

"  '  Pray,  did  you  come  with  oars  or  skullers.  Mister  Handel  ?' 
said  Pepusch. 

"  '  Now,  how  gan  you  demand  of  me  dat  zilly  question  ?  you 
who  are  a  musician  and  a  man  of  science,  Doctor  Peepbush.  Vat 
gan  it  goncern  you,  whether  I  have  one  votdermans  or  two  vot- 
dermans — whether  I  bull  out  mine  burse  for  to  pay  one  shilling 
or  two.  Diavolo  !  I  gannot  go  here,  or  I  gannot  go  there,  but 
some  one  shall  send  it  to  some  newsbaber,  as  how  Misder  Chorge 
Yrederick  Handel  did  go  somedimes  last  week  m  a  votderman's 
wherry,  to  preak  his  fastd  mid  Misder  Zac  Hardgasdle ;  but  it 
shall  be  all  the  fault  mid  mineself,  if  it  shall  be  put  in  print, 
whether  I  was  rowed  by  one  votdermans  or  by  two  votdermans. 
So,  Dr.  Peepbush,  you  will  blease  to  excuse  me  from  dat.' 

"  Nothing  made  Handel  so  peevish  in  his  latter  days,  as  being 
questioned  about  trivial  matters.  He  used  to  say,  '  If  a  man 
gannot  think  but  as  a  fool,  ledt  him  keep  his  fool's  tongue  m  his 
own  fool's  moud.'  But  Handel,  for  all  these  httle  impatient  hu- 
mors, was  a  kind  and  good-hearted  man. 

"  Poor  Dr.  Pepusch  was  for  a  moment  disconcerted,  but  it  was 
forgotten  in  the  first  dish  of  coffee. 

''  '  Well,  gentlemen,'  said  my  great  uncle  Zachary,  looking  at 
his  Tompion,  '  it  is  ten  minutes  past  nine.  Shall  we  wait  more 
for  Dr.  Arne  ?' 

"  '  Let  us  give  him  another  five  minutes'  chance.  Master  Hard- 
castle,'  said  Colley  Gibber;  'he  is  too  great  a  genius  to  keep 
time.' 

"  '  Let  U9  put  it  to  the  vote,'  said  Dr.  Pepusch,  smiling.  '  Who 
holds  up  hands  ?' 

"  '  I  will  segond  your  motion  mid  all  mine  heard t,'  said  Han- 
del. '  I  will  hold  up  mine  feeble  hands  for  mine  oldt  friend  Gus- 
tos [Arne's  name  was  Augustine],  for  I  know  not  who  I  would 
awaidt  for,  over  andt  above  mine  oldt  rival,  Master  Dcm  [Tliomas, 
meaning  Pepusch].      Only  liy  your  liermission,  I  Avill  d;i.ke   a 


470  APPENDIX. 

suag  of  your  ham,  andt  a  slice  of  French  roll,  or  a  modicum  of 
chicken ;  for,  to  deU  you  the  honest  facd,  I  am  all  pote  famished, 
for  I  laid  me  down  on  mine  pillow  in  bed,  the  lastd  nightd,  midout 
mine  supper,  at  the  instance  of  mine  physician ;  for  which  I  am 
not  altogeddere  inglined  to  extend  mine  fastd  no  longer.'  Then, 
laughing,  'Berhaps,  Mister  Golley  Gibbers,  you  may  hke  to  pote 
this  to  the  vote  ?  But  I  shall  not  segond  the  motion,  nor  shall  I 
holdt  up  mine  hand,  as  I  will,  by  bermission,  embloy  it  some  dime 
in  a  better  office.  So,  if  you  blease,  do  me  the  kindness  for  to 
gut  me  a  small  slice  of  ham.' 

"  At  this  instant  a  hasty  footstep  was  heard  on  the  stairs,  ac- 
companied by  the  humming  of  an  air,  all  as  gay  as  the  morning, 
which  was  beautiful  and  bright.     It  was  the  month  of  May. 

"  '  Bresto  !  be  quick,'  said  Handel;  he  knew  it  was  Arne ;  ' fif- 
teen minudes  of  dime  is  bretty  well  for  an  ad  Hbidum.' 

"  '  Mr.  Arne,'  said  my  great  uncle's  man. 

"  A  chair  was  placed,  and  the  social  party  commenced  their 
dejeuner. 

"  '  Well,  and  how  do  you  find  yourself;  my  dear  sir  ?'  inquired 
Arne,  with  friendly  warmth. 

"  '  Why,  by  the  mercy  of  heaven,  and  the  waders  of  Aix-la- 
Chapelle,  andt  the  addentions  of  mine  togders  andt  physicians, 
andt  oggulists,*  of  lade  years,  under  Providence,  I  am  surbriz- 
ingly  pedder,  thank  you  kindly,  Misder  Gustos.  Andt  you  have 
been  also  doing  well  of  lade,  as  I  am  bleased  to  hear.  You  see, 
sir,'  pointing  to  the  plate,  '  you  see,  sir,  dat  I  am  in  the  way  for  to 
regruit  mine  flesh  mid  the  good  viands  of  Misder  Zachary  Hard- 
gasdle.' 

"  '  So,  sir,  I  presume  you  are  come  to  witness  the  trial  of  skill 
at  the  old  Round  Ghurch  ?  I  understand  the  amateurs  expect  a 
pretty  sharp  contest,'  said  Arne. 

'^ '  Gondest,'  echoed  Handel,  laying  down  his  knife  and  fork. 
'  Yes,  no  doubt ;  your  amadeurs  have  a  bassion  for  gondest.  Not 
vot  it  vos  in  our  remembrance    Hey,  mine  friendt !    Ha,  ha,  ha  !' 

"  '  No,  sir,  I  am  happy  to  say,  those  days  of  envy  and  bicker- 
ing, and  party  feeling  are  gone  and  past.  To  be  sure,  we  had 
enough  of  such  disgraceful  warfare ;  it  lasted  too  long.' 

*  This  must  have  been  about  1751  or  1753,  as  he  mentions  the  oculists.  It  ap- 
pears, also,  that  he  had  recently  visited  the  waters  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  which  con- 
firms the  statement  in  the  Public  Advertiser  of  the  21st  of  August,  1750,  relative 
to  the  journey  which  was  lately  mentioned. 


ONE     OP     HANDEL'S     CONVERSATIONS.  471 

"  <  Why,  yes,  it  tid  last  too  long ;  it  bereft  me  of  mine  poor 
limbs ;  it  tid  bereave  me  of  that  vot  is  the  most  blessed  gift  of 
him  vot  made  us,  and  not  wee  ourselves.*  And  for  vot  ?  Vy,  for 
noding  in  the  worldt,  pode  the  bleasure  andt  bastime  of  them  who 
having  no  widt,  nor  no  want,  set  at  loggerheads  such  men  as  Hve 
by  their  widts,  to  worry  and  destroy  one  andt  anodere  as  wildt 
beasts  in  the  Golloseum  in  the  dimes  of  the  Romans.' 

"  Poor  Dr.  Pepusch,  during  this  conversation,  as  my  great  uncle 
observed,  was  sitting  on  thorns ;  he  was  in  the  coniederacy  pro- 
fessionally only. 

" '  I  hope,  sir,'  observed  the  doctor,  '  you  do  not  include  me 
among  those  who  did  injustice  to  your  talents.' 

"  '  Nod  at  all,  nod  at  all ;  God  forbid !  I  am  a  great  admirer  of 
the  airs  of  the  "Peggar's  Obera,"  and  every  professional  gendtle- 
man  must  do  his  best  for  to  hve.' 

"  This  mild  return,  couched  under  an  apparent  compliment, 
was  well  received ;  but  Handel,  who  had  a  talent  for  sarcastic 
droUing,  added,  '  Pute  why  blay  the  Peggar  yourself,  togder,  andt 
adapt  oldt  pallad  hum-sdrum,  ven,  as  a  man  of  science,  you 
could  gombose  original  airs  of  your  own  ?  Here  is  mine  friendt 
Gustos  Arne,  who  has  made  a  road  for  hiroself,  for  to  drive  along 
his  own  genius  to  the  demple  of  fame ;'  then  turning  to  our  illus- 
trious Arne,  he  continued,  '  mine  friendt,  Gustos,  you  andt  I  must 
meed  togeder  some  dimes  before  it  is  long,  andt  hold  a  tede-a- 
tede  of  old  days  vot  is  gone ;  ha,  ha  !  0 !  it  is  gomigal  now  dat 
id  is  all  gone  by.  Gustos,  tdo  nod  you  remember  as  it  vas  almost 
only  of  yesterday,  dat  she  devil  Guzzoni,  and  dat  other  brecious 
tdaughter  of  iniquity,  Pelzepub's  sboiled  child,  the  bretty-faced 
Faustina  ?  0  !  the  mad  rage  vat  I  have  to  answer  for,  vot  with 
one  and  the  oder  of  these  fine  latdies'  airs  and  graces.  Again,  do 
you  nod  remember  dat  ubstardt  buppy  Senesino,  and  the  gox- 
gomb  FarineUi?  Next,  again,  mine  somedimes  nodtable  rival, 
Master  Bononcini,  andt  old  Borbora  ?  ha,  ha,  ha !  all  at  war  wid 
me,  andt  all  at  war  wid  themselves.  Such  a  gonfusion  of  rival- 
shibs,  andt  double-facedness,  and  hybocrisy,  andt  malice,  vot 
would  make  a  gomigal  subject  for  a  boem  in  rhymes,  or  a  biece 
for  the  stage,  as  I  hopes  to  be  saved.'  " 

This  narrative  (which  in  its  truthfulness  of  character  resembles 
an   interior  photographed  from  the  life)  finishes  brusquely  in  this 

*  In  allusion,  doubtless,  to  the  attack  of  paralysis,  and  to  the  mental  alienation 
oflTST. 


472  APPENDIX. 

manner.  As  it  is  not  slated  tliat  a  sliort-liand  ^\Titer  was  present, 
one  is  tempted  to  regard  it  as  doubtful ;  but  wonderful  memories 
are  occasionally  to  be  met  with,  and  the  whole  scene  is  adapted 
so  perfectly  and  so  naturally  to  facts  which  we  know  from  other 
sources,  that  entire  faith  may  be  accorded  to  the  story. 

From  this  it  appears  that  about  1750  all  disputes  had  ceased, 
not  without  leaving  a  certain  bitterness  at  the  bottom  of  Han- 
del's heart.  It  appears  also,  that  at  the  age  of  sixty-six  or  seven 
he  had  lost  none  of  that  conversational  fire  for  which  he  was 
renowned,  but  that  when  he  felt  himself  at  his  ease  and  in  a  good 
arm-chair,  it  was  difficult  for  any  one  else  to  find  room  for  a 
word. 

APPENDIX   U. 

HANDEL'S  HOUSEHOLD  PROPERTY. 

From  the  original  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Wm.  Snoxell,  who 
has  kindly  permitted  me  to  publish  it : 

"An  Inventory  of  the  Household  Goods  of  George  Frederic 
Handel,  Esq.,  deceased,  taken  at  his  late  dwelling-house  in 
Great  Brook-street,  St.  George's,  Hanover  Square ;  and,  by 
order  of  the  executor,  sold  to  Mr.  Jno.  Du  Bourk,  this  twenty- 
seventh  of  August,  1759,  by  the  appraisement  of  us  whose 
names  are  underwritten. 

"  In  the  Garretts. — i  old  chairs,  3  old  trunks,  a  wainscot  oval 
table,  a  bedstead,  with  Hneing  furniture,  a  feather  bed,  bolster,  and 
1  pillow,  3  blanketts,  and  a  quilt,  an  old  sadle,  a  window  curtain, 
and  an  old  grate,  2  pair  stairs  carpet,  2  old  globes,  and  frames, 
and  chimney-board. 

"  2  Pair  Stair  forward. — A  bedstead,  with  whole  teaster,  crim- 
son haritten  furniture,  a  feather  bed,  bolster,  and  2  pillows,  a 
white  mattress,  3  blankets,  and  a  quilt,  3  pair  of  bed  window  cur- 
tains and  rods,  a  stove,  tongues,  and  poker,  6  old  matted  chairs,  a 
round  close  stool  and  white  pann,  a  wicker  fire-screen,  a  glass  in 
wall*^  frame. 

"2  Fair  Stairs  hackivards.—  A.n  old  bedstead,  with  red  half 
teaster  furniture,  a  feather  bed,  a  bolster,  2  blanketts,  and  an  old 
quilt,  an  oval  wainscott  table,  and  3  old  chairs. 

^^  Dineing  Room. — An  iron  hearth  with  dogs,  brass-mounted 
tongs  and  shovell,  2  wall*^  round  card  tables,  7  wall**  matted  chairs, 


HANDEL'S     HOUSEHOLD    TROPERTY.        4*73 

and  leather  stool,  2  sconces  in  gilt  frames,  a  chimney  glass  in  ditto, 
and  broke. 

"  In  the  1  Pair  of  Stairs  hackwards. — A  stove  complete,  bellows 
and  brush,  4  matted  chairs,  a  wall*^  card  table,  a  pair  of  old  green 
silk  window  curtains,  and  a  window  seat,  a  chimney  glass  in  a 
gilt  frame,  and  a  pier  glass  in  ditto. 

"/ti  the  Closet. — A  hncey  cistern,  an  old  stove,  and  a  small 
cupboard. 

"  On  the  Stairs  and  in  y^  Passage. — An  eight-day  clock  in  a 
wall*^  frame,  and  a  square  lanthorn. 

"  In  the  Fore  Parlour. — A  square  stove,  poker,  shovell,  fender, 
bellows,  and  brush,  a  wainscott  oval  table,  a  square  block  table, 
6  old  matted  chairs,  a  sconce  in  a  gilt  frame,  a  cliimney  glass  in 
ditto,  and  old  walF  desk,  5  coulr'd  china  coffee  cups  and  6  saucers, 
a  blue  and  white  spoon-boat. 

"  In  the  Back  Parlour. — An  easy  chair  and  cushion,  an  old  stove 
complete,  a  walF  writing  desk,  a  dressing  swing- glass  in  a  black 
frame,  an  old  bason-stand,  a  wicker  fire-screen,  a  deal  chest  and 
bracketts,  and  a  square  deal  box,  a  large  linen  press,  a  small  deal 
bookcase,  2  wig-blocks  fixt. 

''  In  the  Closett. — A  large  nest  of  drawers  and  a  window-cur- 
tain. 

"  In  the  Kitchen. — A  large  rainge  with  cheeks,  keeper,  and  iron 
back,  a  crain  and  pott  hooks,  a  fender,  shovel,  tongs,  and  poker, 
and  bellows,  a  salamander,  a  chaffihg-dish,  2  hanging  irons,  3  flat 
irons,  a  jack  complete  and  lead  weights,  2  standing  spit-racks  and 

3  spitts,  a  gridiron  and  2  truvtts,  a  flesh  fork  and  iron  seure,  an 
iron  plate-warmer,  8  brass  candlesticks,  2  cofiee-pots,  a  drudger 
and  2  pepper-boxes,  a  slice,  a  ladle,  a  copper  grater,  a  warming- 
pann  and  iron  stand,  a  boyling-pot  and  cover,  a  dish-kittle,  a  fish- 
kittle  complete,  2  stew-pans  and  covers,  2  frying-panns,  5  sauce- 
panns  and  3  covers,  a  copper  water  candlestick,  12  pewter  dishes 
and  26  plates,  a  tea-kittle,  a  coflee-mill,  2  wainscot  tables,  5  old 
chairs,  an  arm  easy  chair,  a  plate-rack,  a  chopping-board,  a  spice 
drawer,  a  pewter  shaving  bason,  about  30  pair  of  earthen  and 
stoneware,  and  a  towel-rowl,  a  box  with  12  knives  and  12  forks, 

4  glass  salts  and  mustard  glass,  2  coal-boxes,  a  meat-screen  and  a 
clever,  a  pair  of  steps,  &c. 

"  In  the  Bach  Kitchen. — An  old  stove  and  shovell,  a  copper  fixed 
and  iron  work,  2  formes  and  5  washing- tubbs,  a  cloaths-horse  and 
a  horse  to  dust  cloaths  on,  2  old  chairs  and  a  wig-block,  a  bed- 


474  APPENDIX. 

stead  and  curtains,  a  feather  bed,  bolster,  and  1  pillow,  1  blanket 
and  a  rug,  an  old  chair. 

^'  In  the  Area  and  Vault. — A  large  lead  cistern  and  brass  cock, 
and  beer  stylion. 

"  All  the  before  written  goods,  &c.,  is  appraised  and  valued  to 
the  sum  of  forty-eight  pounds,  the  day  and  year  before  men- 
tioned. 

_  (  James  Gordon, 

"  This  inventory  of  household  goods,  appraised  at  £48,  sold  to 
John  de  Bourke." 


APPENDIX  V. 

HANDEL'S   HAEPSICHORD. 

Here  is  a  question  to  be  cleared  up.  The  Anecdotes  of  Handel 
and  Smith  say  (at  page  55) : — "  *  *  *  Smith  accordingly  ex- 
pressed that  gratitude  in  a  way  which  he  thought  most  acceptable 
to  his  sovereign  ;  he  presented  to  the  king  the  rich  legacy  which 
Handel  had  left  him  of  all  his  manuscript  music  in  score,  the 
harpsichord,  so  remarkable  for  the  ivory  being  indented  by  Han- 
del's continued  exertions,  and  his  bust  by  Eoubiliac  he  sent 
afterward  to  Windsor  Castle.  Of  all  his  great  instructor  had  be- 
queathed him,  he  only  reserved  to  himself  the  portrait  executed 
by  Denner."  This  volume,  which  is  by  the  Rev.  WiUiam  Coxe, 
who  is  mentioned  in  it  as  the  son-in-law  of  Smith,  can  not  well 
be  in  error  as  to  a  fact  so  importrnt,  and  which  belonged  to  the 
renown  of  the  family.  Yet  Messrs.  Broadwood  have  in  their 
possession  a  harpsichord,  which  they  exhibit  in  perfect  good  faith 
as  that  which  belonged  to  Handel.  Mr.  Broadwood  has  most 
kindly  and  openly  shown  me  the  instrument,  and  has  furnished 
me  with  copies  of  the  following  documents,  which,  in  his  opinion, 
estabhsh  its  identity : 

"  My  Dear  Sir — Will  you  oblige  me  by  certifying  (if  I  am 
correct)  the  following : 

"  The  celebrated  Mr.  Smish  (or  Schmidt)  was  HandeVs  private 
friend  and  amanuensis. 

"  This  said  Mr.  Smish  was  presented  by  Handel  with  his  favo- 


HANDEL'S     HARPSICHORD.  475 

rite  fine  double-keyed  harpsichord^  made  by  the  best  maker  of  the 
day,  Andreas  Rucker,  of  Antwerpia,  K351. 

"  This  said  instrument  you  have  repeatedly  heard  Mr.  Schmidt 
play  on, 

"  Mr.  Smish  was  father-in-law  to  you,  as  well  as  your  sister, 
the  late  Dowager  Lady  Rivers,  and  at  his  death  the  said  harpsi- 
chord came  into  the  hands,  together  with  a  large  collection  of 
Handel's  oratorios,  etc.,  etc.,  MSS.,  of  the  Dowager  Lady  Rivers. 

"  This  instrument  was  parted  with  to  a  Mr.  Wickham,  surgeon, 
who  parted  with  it  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hawtry,  Prebendary  of  Win- 
chester Cathedral,  upon  the  death  of  whom  I  purchased  it  at  the 
sale  of  his  effects,  and  in  whose  possession  it  still  remains. 

"  Is  not  this  the  identical  instrument  now  spoken  of?  Your 
early  answer  to  these  queries  (as  the  only  hving  witness)  will 
oblige,  etc. 

(Signed)  ''  G.  W.  Chard.* 

"  To  the  Rev.  George  Coxe, 

*'  Rector  of  St.  Michael's,  Winchester. 

"  P.  S. — Will  you  obUge  me  by  certifying  on  this  sheet  of  pa- 
per, and  returning  it?" 

[Underneath,  is  written :] 

"  I  certify  that  the  above  statement  is  correct,  as  far  as  my 
knowledge  goes. 

(Signed)  "  George  Coxe. 

"  Twyford,  May  13th,  1842. 

"  Witnesses  to  the  above  signatures, 

,ci-       i\  "  Susanna  Gregg. 

"  Note. — This  harpsichord  appears  to  have  passed  into  the  pos- 
session, after  Dr.  Chard's  decease,  of  Mr.  Hooper,  a  professor  of 
music  at  Winchester,  who  forwarded  the  above  particulars  to 
Messrs.  Broadwood." 

The  question  is:  do  these  documents,  however  sincere  may 
have  been  their  authors,  merit  any  very  great  confidence  ?  Is 
the  certificate  of  the  Rev.  George  Coxe  (doubtless  the  brother  of 
the  Rev.  William  Coxe,  the  author  of  the  book)  of  any  great 
value  ?     What  it  attests,  namely,  that  the  MSS.  and  tht  harpsi- 

*  Dr.  Chard  was  organist  of  Winchester  CathedraL 


476  APPENDIX. 

chord  were  left  by  Smith  to  his  daughter-in-law,  Lady  Rivers,  is 
entirely  contradicted  by  the  book.  This  book  (which  was  writ- 
ten in  1799,  immediately  after  Smith's  death,  and  while  Lady 
Rivers  was  ahve)  affirms  that  "  the  harpsichord  was  given  to 
George  the  Third,"  and  not  to  Lady  Rivers.  I  do  not  allude  to 
the  MSS.,  supposing  that  it  is  to  the  copies,  and  not  the  originals, 
that  reference  is  here  made.  The  originals  were  given  to  George 
the  Third. 

The  Rev.  George  Coxe,  moreover,  expresses  himself  with 
marked  reserve : — "  As  far  as  my  knowledge  goes,"  says  he. 
This  is  surely  not  enough  to  controvert  what  had  been  pubhshed 
by  a  member  of  the  family  forty-three  years  back,  during  the  lifetime 
and  within  the  knowledge  of  the  interested  parties  themselves. 

The  harpsichord  given  to  George  the  Third  is  not  to  be  found 
in  any  of  the  royal  palaces,  but  it  does  not  r.gree  with  the  gene- 
alogy of  that  which  is  in  the  possession  of  Messrs.  Broadwood. 
That  is  indeed  by  Ruckers,  the  most  celebrated  maker  of  his  time, 
and  so  also  was  Handel's,  but  the  double  key-board  bears  none 
of  those  marks  which  the  industrious  fingers  of  the  great  com- 
poser are  said  to  have  imprinted  there ;  nor  is  it  credible  that  any 
man  ever  existed  who  was  barbarous  enough  to  repair  the  traces 
of  such  a  sublime  wear  and  tear.  These  observations  appear  to 
throw  some  doubt  upon  the  authenticity  of  Messrs.  Broadwood's 
rehc.  But  whether  that  be  so  or  not,  a  description  of  it  may  be 
interesting.  It  bears  the  name  of  "  Ruckers,  Antwerpia,  1651." 
The  case  and  hd  are  painted  black,  with  ornaments  in  gold  and 
color,  a  sort  of  lacquer-work.  The  sound-board  is  ornamented 
also,  to  the  great  risk  of  its  sonority.  Upon  a  ground  of  pale 
green  are  arabesques,  among  which  sit  half  a  dozen  monkeys  exe- 
cuting a  concert.  The  lid  is  inscribed  upon  the  under  surface,  in 
letters  of  gold.  Sic  transit  gloria  mundi,  a  legend  which  is  often 
to  be  met  with  upon  spinetts  and  harpsichords,  and  which  doubt- 
less signifies  that  the  glory  of  the  world  vanishes  as  sound  in 
space.  On  that  part  of  the  lid  which  turns  back  when  the  harp- 
sichord is  op6ned,  is  Musico  donum  dei  (Music  is  the  gift  of  God), 
also  written  in  gold  letters,  upon  a  black  ground. 

In  the  preface  to  his  edition  of  The  Messiah,  Mr.  Horsley  giveg 
a  letter,  received  from  Mr.  Gillman,  on  behalf  of  Lord  Howe, 
which  states  : — "  At  Mr.  Jennens's  death,  the  organ  which  Han- 
del used  while  composing  T/ie  Messiah,  and  much  of  the  original 
score  of  many  of  his  works,  were  assigned  in  the  division  of  the 


THE     "magnificat"    IN     "iSKAEL."         477 

property  to  Lord  Aylesford,  and  are  still  at  Packington.  The 
organ  is  in  the  church  there ;  an  old  spinett,  which  Ilundel  much 
used  when  at  Gopsall,  is  here,  but  in  a  perfectly  useless  condi- 
tion." I  learned,  upon  the  spot,  that  "  the  old  spinett  which 
Handel  must  have  used"  is  dated  1770  or  1772 ;  that  is,  eleven 
years  after  liis  death  ! 


APPENDIX  W. 

THE  "MAGNIFICAT"  IN  "ISRAEL." 

While  this  book  was  being  printed,  a  discussion  has  arisen 
respecting  Handel's  borrowings  for  liis  Magnificat^  borrowings 
which  have  been  akeady  mentioned  at  page  44.  I  had  intended 
to  reserve  the  treatment  of  this  question  for  the  "  Catalogue  of 
Works,"  w^here  it  would  be  more  naturally  in  its  place  ;  but  since 
it  has  arisen,  it  may  perhaps  be  interesting  to  throw  some  light 
upon  it  here.  In  an  analytical  handbook  of  Israel  in  Egypt^ 
which  the  Sacred  Harmonic  Society  has  recently  published,  men- 
tion is  made  of  a  MS.  Magnificat^  which  is  in  the  rich  library  of 
the  society,  and  which  is  inscribed,  "  Magnificat  del  R**,  Sig''.  Er- 
ba."  "This  superscription,"  says  the  handbook,  "signifies  that 
the  copy  has  belonged  to  a  Sig*".  Erba,  since  there  is  the  following 
evidence  of  the  composition  being  Handel's:  in  the  copy  of 
Israel  in  Egypt^  wliich  Handel  used  to  conduct,  all  the  pieces 
taken  from  this  work  are  marked  in  pencil  '  Hag.,'  from  which  it 
may  be  inferred  that  at  some  early  period  these  pieces  were 
identified."  Whereupon,  the  Athenceum  of  the  4th  of  April  asks 
— "  Identified  by  whom  ?  And  with  what  ?  With  Erba  or  with 
Handel?  Less  conclusive  evidence  or  impression  (for  evidence 
here  is  none)  could  not  be.  There  was  an  Italian  composer  of 
the  name  of  Erba  hving  at  Rome  toward  the  year  1730.  In 
truth,  we  suspect  that  the  giant  was  so  rich,  as  to  feel  himself  en- 
titled to  steal  from  this  side  or  from  the  other." 

There  is  a  way  to  remove  these  doubts  in  a  positive  manner, 
which  I  feel  sure  will  be  acceptable  to  every  body.  The  Mag- 
rdfiicat  is  certainly  Handel's ;  the  MS.,  entirely  written  by  himself, 
is  bound  up  in  a  quarto  volume,  improperly  entitled  "  Sketches," 
in  the  collection  at  Buckingham  Palace.  The  last  pages,  in  which 
the  date  was  doubtless  to  be  found,  are  imfortunately  lost ;  but 
beside  its  Latin  text  (which  assigns  it  to  the  Italian  period  of  the 


478  APPENDIX. 

master's  works),  it  is  written  upon  very  thick  paper,  like  all  his 
MSS.  which  were  made  in  Italy.  This  Magnificat  probably  be- 
longs to  the  same  epoch  as  the  Dkcit  Daminvs,  signed  "  S.  D.  Gr.* 
— Gr.  R  Hendel,  1707.  4d'Aprile.  Roma;"  and  the  Laudate 
Pueri,  signed  "  S.  D.  G.— G.  F.  H.,  il  8  Julij,  1707.  Roma." 
Handel  began  early,  as  we  see,  to  mix  up  a  variety  of  languages, 
both  in  writing  and  speaking.  In  the  midst  of  this  Uttle  Italian 
memorandum  the  name  of  the  month  is  in  German,  "  Julij."  The 
copy  which  the  Sacred  Harmonic  Society  possesses  (which  is, 
moreover,  very  incorrect)  was  not  even  made  in  Italy ;  it  is 
written  upon  paper  bearing  in  the  water-mark  "  I.  Whatman" — 
a  mark  frequently  found  in  the  paper  used  by  Handel  and  SmitJi 
when  in  London.  There  is  therefore  no  doubt  that  this  copy 
was  made  in  England. 

As  for  the  "  Sig^  Erba,"  to  whom  this  copy  may  have  be- 
longed, I  do  not  know  whether  the  learned  critic  of  the  Athenceum 
has  any  special  information  about  liim,  but  according  to  the 
Musical  Dictionaries  of  M.  Fctis  and  of  Choron,  he  was  not  a 
composer,  but  a  violin-player.  M.  Fetis  says  that  he  was  a  Mi- 
lanese, and  Choron  calls  him  a  Roman ;  neither  of  them  conse- 
crate more  than  five  hnes  to  him,  and  all  the  composition  they 
give  him  is  "  10  senate  da  camera  a  vioHno  solo  e  basso.  Op.  1. 
Amsterdam,  1736."  (Ten  chamber  sonatas  for  a  solo  viohn  and 
a  bass.)  The  Dictionary  of  Musicians  furnishes  no  further  ac- 
count of  him,  and  the  Musical  Biography  does  not  even  mention 
his  name.  At  any  rate,  it  still  remains  to  be  ascertained  whether 
the  "  Sigr.  Erba"  of  the  copy  is  the  Roman  musician.  The  ''  R*^." 
which  is  prefixed  to  his  name  gives  him  a  certain  air  of  Reverend, 
which  does  not  usually  belong  to  a  violinist. 

Out  of  the  eleven  movements  of  which  the  Magnificat  is  com- 
posed, Mr.  Lacy  has  ascertained  that  Handel  employed  six  for 
Israel  in  Egypt — 

"  Magnificat  anima  mea,"  has  supplied  the  chorus,  "  He  is  my  God." 
"  Et  exultavit,"  "  the  duet,       "  The  Lord  is  my  strength." 

" Quia  respexit  humilitatem,"  "  the  two  choruses,    "Thy   depths    hare  covered 

them,"    and  "  Thy  right 

hand."       (Handel    could 

surely  write  two   essays 

upon  the  same  subject.) 

"  Fecit  potentiam  in  brachio  suo,"    *'     the  chorus,  "  Thou  sentest  for  the  wrath." 

"  Esurientes  implecit  bonis,"  "     the  duet,       "  Thou  in  thy  mercy." 

*'  Sicut  erat  in  principio,"  "    the  chorus,    "  The  earth  swallowed  them." 

*  Soli  Deo  Gloria  (Glory  be  to  God  alone). 


THE     "magnificat"     IN     "  ISRAEL."  479 

It  should  bo  added,  that  the  tenth  movement,  "  Sicut  locutus 
est,"  has  furnished  the  chorus  in  Susannah^  "Yet  his  bolt;"  and 
finally,  that  in  the  admirable  duet  "  The  Lord  is  a  man  of  war," 
phrases  of  the  fourth  movement  of  the  Magnificat,  "  Quia  fecit 
mihi  magna,"  are  to  be  found. 

It  is  evident  that  if  the  Magnificat  was  by  an  Erba,  the  author 
of  Israel  would  have  somewhat  abused  the  right  which  gianta 
arrogate  to  themselves  of  spoiling  poor  little  people.  Handel 
more  than  once  had  recourse  to  his  Latin  Catholic  music,  which 
remained  unpubhshed,  for  the  use  of  his  great  English  works. 
As  a  proof,  it  need  only  be  observed  that  the  subject  of  the  in- 
troduction to  his  Utrecht  Jubilate  is  taken  from  the  first  move- 
ment of  his  Laudate  Pueri.  "  Hope,  a  pure  and  lasting  treasure," 
an  air  which  he  intercalated  into  Israel,  on  the  revival  of  that 
oratorio  in  1756,  is  taken  from  one  of  his  two  sacred  Latin 
motets,  "  Dulcis  amor,  Jesu  caro." 


Until  the  publication  of  the  more  detailed  "Cata- 
logue," the  following  list  will  probably  be  interesting  to 
the  reader :  ♦ 

LIST  OP  MUSIC,  SACRED,  SECULAR,  AND  INSTRUMENTAL, 

COMPOSED  BY   GEOKGE   FEIDEEIC   HAJSDEL. 

An  asterisk  *  marks  stich  as  are  as  yet  unpublished ;  and  tvorka  of  which 
the  MSS.  are  lost  are  marked  thus  t. 

SacreU  if^usic. 

2  ITALIAN  OKATOEIOS. 

Il  Tkionfo  del  Tempo  e  del  disingannc* 

Eesukrkczione. 

1  GERMAN  ORATOEIO. 

Passion.* 


ESTHEK. 

Debokah. 

Athalia. 

Saul, 

Israel  in  Egypt. 

Messiah. 


19  ENGLISH  ORATORIOS. 

Samson. 
Joseph. 
Hercules. 
Belsiiazzar. 
Occasional  Oratorio. 
Judas  Maccabeus. 
Triumph  of  Time  and  Truth. 


Alexander  B^lus. 

Joshua. 

Solomon.      *~ 

Susannah. 

Theodora. 

Jephtha. 


Utrecht. 
Chandos  (two). 


5  TE  DEUMS. 


Queen  Caroline's. 
Dettingen. 


Dixit  Dominus  and  Gloria.* 
Laudate  et  Gloria.* 
Laudate  et  Gloria.* 
Nisi  Dominus.* 


7  PSALMS. 

Utrecht  Jubilate. 
Hanover  Psalm. 
Epiphany  Psalm. 


Besides  Avhich  there  is  an  unpublished  reduction  of  the  Utrecht  Jubilate. 


20  ANTHEMS. 
12  Chandos.  I    1  Wedding.  j     1  Dettingen. 

4  Coronation.  j    1  Funeral.  j    1  Foundling  Hospital.* 

Besides  the  reduction  of  four  of  the  Chandos  Anthems  for  the  use  of  the 

Chapels  Royal.* 


LIST    OF    MUSIC. 


481 


"Intekt  in."* 


2  MOTETS. 


iHE   INVITATION. 


"SiLETE,   SILETE."* 


8  HYMNS. 
I      Desiring  to  Love.       |      On  the  Eesurrection. 


MISCELLANEOUS. 
"Gloria."*  |      "Kyrie."*  |      "Magnificat."* 


Secular  i^usfc. 


4   GEEMAN 

NEEO.t  I 


OPERAS. 

DAPHNE.t 


FLORINDA.t 


Eoderigo.* 
Agrippina. 

SiLLA.* 
EiNALDO. 

Pastor  Fido, 

Teseo. 

Amadis.* 

Eadamisto. 

Muzio  Sc^vola. 

Floridante. 

Ottone. 

Flavio. 

GiULio  Cesaee. 


ITALIAN  OPEEAS.l 
Tamerlane. 
Eodeltnda. 
SciPio. 
Alessandro. 
Admeto. 
Eicaedo  1°. 
Siroe. 
Tolomeo. 
Lothario. 
Paetiienope. 

PORO. 

Ezio. 

SOSARME. 


Orlando. 

Arianna. 

Ariodantk. 

Alcina. 

Atalanta. 

GlUSTINO. 

Arminio. 

Berenice. 

Faramondo. 

Seese. 

Jupiter  in  Argos.* 

Imeneo. 

Deidamia. 


This  list  does  not  Include  the  pasticcios  Lucio  Veeo  and  Alessandro  SeveeOji 
which  do  not  contain  a  single  original  note. 


Besides,  there  are  fragments  of : 

Flavio  Olibrio,  an  abandoned  opera.* 
Five  pieces  and  the  overture  intro- 
duced into  the  pasticcio  of  Ores- 
tes* 


Titus,  an  abandoned  opera.*  * 

The  overture  to  Alessandro  Severo, 
and  fragments  of  an  unnamed  op- 
era.* 


1  ENGLISH  OPERA. 
Alcestes  (called  by  Arnold  Alcides). 

ITALIAN   SEEENATAS. 

Aci,  Galattea  e  Polifemo.* 

Thirteen  Airs  and  Choruses  for  Paenasso  in  Festa.* 


2  ENGLISH   SEEENATAS. 
Aci8  AND  Galatea.  |  Semele. 

1  With  the  exception  of  Agrippina,  Teseo,  Giulio  Cesare,  and  Sosarme,  th 
operas  are  publi.'^hed  in  such  an  incomplete  manner,  that  they  may  be  almost  con 
sidered  as  unpublished.  In  some  cases  there  is  nothing  but  a  book  of  FavoHU 
Songs. 

21 


482 


LIST    OP    MUSIC. 


1  ENGLISH  INTERLUDE. 

Choice  of  Hekoules, 


1   ITALIAN   INTERMEDE. 

Terpsichore.* 


4  ODES. 


On  Queen  Anne's  Birth-day. 
Dryden's   Ode    on   St.    Cecilia's 
Day. 


Alexander's  Feast. 

L'AlLEGRO,     IL     PeNSEROSO     ED     IL 

Moderata. 


2  CHAMBER  TRIOS. 

24  CHAMBER  DUETS. 

And  about  150  CANTATAS.* 


instrumental. 


0  Trios  Sonatas.! 

Water  Music. 
<*Suites  de  Pieces  pour  le  Clavecin, 
^second  Series  of  ditto. 

4  Minuets  and  a  March  for  the  harp- 
sichord. 

Alcuymist  Music. 

12  Solos,  Opera  !», 

6  Sonatas  or  Trios,  Opera  2«. 
^  Etudes  pour  Clavecin. 

Lessons  for  the  Harpsichord. 

6  Hautbois  Concertos,  Opera  3a. 

6  Fugues  for  the  Organ. 

'SConcertos  for  the  Organ  (first  set), 
with  instrumental  parts,  Opera  4a. 


Concertante. 

7  Sonatas  or  Trios,  Opera  5a. 
12  Grand  Concertos,  Opera  6a. 
Hornpipe.* 

6  Organ  Concertos,  without  instru- 
mental parts  (second  set). 

Forest  Music. 

Fireworks  Music. 

'^rgan  Concertos,  with  instrumental 
parts. 

'I^Organ  Concertos  (third  set),  with 
instrumental  parts.  Opera  7*. 

*JK)rgan  Concertos,  with  instrumental 
parts. 

8  Sonatas.* 


/ 


> 


INDEX. 


"Abroad  after  misses,"  105. 

Academy  of  Ancieut  Music,  S6 ;  pro- 
duces Esther,  122. 

Act,  Galattea  e  Folifemo,  4-3. 

AeiH  and  Gtdatea  composed  for  the 
Duke  of  Obaiidos,  80 ;  produced  to 
the  public,  133;  given  by  Mr.  Mac- 
ready,  136 ;  revived,  190,  205,  255,  360, 
385; 'at  Dublin,  270;  instrumentalized 
by  Mozart,  418. 

Acrostic  on  Handel,  854. 

Adaptation  of  Handel's  Italian  airs  to 
sacred  words,  92,  94,  235 ;  to  English 
songs,  52. 

Addison  opposes  Italian  operas,  48  ;  his 
opera  of  Rosamond,  49  ;  his  Drum- 
mer, 113. 

Admetus,  9T. 

*'  Affanni  del  pensier,"  90. 

Agrippiiia,  39 ;  produced  at  Hamburg, 
51. 

Aix-la-Chapellc,  visit  to,  811. 

Alceste  of  Gluck,  long  run  of,  261. 

Alcesies,  341. 

Alchymist  Music,  137. 

Alcina  produced,  200. 

Alessandro.    See  Alexander. 

Alesaandro  in  Persia,  by  Galuppi,  258. 

AlexoMder  itrodnced,  91 ;  published  by 
Cluer,  Walsh,  and  Meares,  117,  166, 
222,  329. 

Alexander  Ba'lus,  329,  341  ;  handbook 
of,  858. 

Alexander'' 8  Feast  composed,  203 ;  209 ; 
published  by  Walsh,  205,  227 ;  given 
by  the  Harmonic  Union,  229 ;  imita- 
tive music  in,  240;  246;  at  Dublin, 
270,  333,  340,  346,  350,  384;  instru- 
inentalized  by  Mozart,  418. 

Alexander  Severus,  217 ;  not  composed 
for  Lord  Middlesex,  259. 

Alfred,  by  Dr.  Arne,  819. 

Allegro.    See  L' Allegro. 

Allemande,  the,  198. 

■'  All  that  is  in  Hamor,"  343,  348. 

"  Alma  del'  gran  Pompeo,"  94,  868,  415. 

"  All  we,  like  sheep,"  284. 

Alrruthide,  47. 

"Al  trionfo  del  nostro  furor,"  412. 

Ahnira,  37;  a  copy  in  the  Berlin  Li- 
brary, 38. 

Amadigi  contains  part  of  Silla,  39  ; 
produced  at  Hamburg,  51 ;  in  England, 
63. 
'  Amen,"  the,  in  The  3fe~'isiah,  463. 

Anaximcnes,  anecdote  of,  380. 


Ancient  Music  Society,  handbooks  of, 
359. 

"Angels  ever  bright  and  fair,"  338. 

A7i  Oratorio,  218,  322. 

A)ithems.  Sec  Chandos,  Coronation, 
AVedding,  Funeral,  Dettingen,  and 
Foundling. 

Antigonus,  anecdote  of,  380. 

"Apollo's  Feast,"  published  by  Walsh, 
113. 

"  Applauso  i  dnci,"  240. 

Arbaces,  a  pasticcio,  produced,  184. 

Arbuthnot,  Dr.,  "  Ilarmony  in  an  up- 
roar," 57  ;  a  friend  to  Handel,  65 ;  op- 
poses The  Beggar's  Opera,  103 ;  fights 
Handel's  battle,  192 ;  his  opinion  of 
Handel,  265. 

Arci-liuto,  40. 

Ariadne  produced,  185  ;  revived,  193, 
198;  popularity  of,  412. 

Ariadne  by  Porpora,  184. 

Ariodante,  how  published,  118  ;  199. 

Armide,  long  run  of,  261. 

Arminius,  208. 

Arne,  Dr.,  his  Alfred,  819  ;  conversation 
with  Handel,  470  ;  his  oratorios,  869  ; 
384. 

Arne,  Mrs.,  202. 

Arnold's  arrangements,  358. 

Arrigoni,  183. 

Artaxerxes,  by  Attilio,  87 ;  by  Hasse, 
199  ;  long  run  of,  261. 

Ashby,  the  bassoon-player,  153. 

"  As  .Jesus  was  sitting,"  69. 

"  Ask  of  yon  damask  rose,"  332. 

"  As  pants  the  hart,"  72. 

Astartus,  by  Bononcini,  77,  87. 

Astyanax,  by  Bononcini,  87. 

Atalanta,  206. 

Athalia  produced  at  Oxford,  179  ;  nov- 
elties i'roinParnasso  introduced  into, 
188,  200,  833,  350,  869. 

Athenoimn,  the,  on  the  Magnificat  in 
Israel,  477. 

Attilio,  the  composer,  81 ;  comes  to  En- 
gland, 75  ;  collaborates  in  Musio  Scce- 
vola,  87 ;  his  operas,  when  produced, 
87 ;  his  character,  88. 

Avolio,  Signora,  accompanies  Handel  to 
Ireland,  461. 

"  Bacchus,  god  of  mortal  pleasures,''  96. 
Bach,  Handel's  plagiarisms  from,  465 ; 

never  met  Handel,  339. 
Bannister,  the  violinist,  59. 
Baptism  of  Handel,  26. 


484 


INDEX. 


Barbier,  Mrs.,  51. 

Bivssooi),  40  ;  a  monster,  153. 

Bates,  Joah,  3C7. 

Batson's  coffee-house,  287. 

Beard,  the  tenor,  301. 

Bear  Gardens,  259. 

Beethoven's  Pastoral  Symphony,  241 ; 

his  opinion  of  Handel,  419. 
"  Before  my  eyes,"  343. 
Beggar's  Opera,  the,  102 ;  verses  on,  by 

Carey,  103. 
"  Behold  the  monster,"  93. 
"  Behold,  the  trumpet  shall  sound,"  304. 
Bellamont,  Lord,  253. 
BeUhazzar,  imitative  music    in,   240 ; 

produced,  306 ;   called  Belteahazzar, 

309,  833,  340,  869, 
Benedict,  Mr.,  gave  Alexander's  Feast, 

229. 
"  Ben  spesso  in  vago  prato,"  96. 
Berenice,  210  ;  imitative  music  in,  218. 
Berlin,  visit  to,  30. 
Bernacchi,  Signora,  110. 
Bernardi,  Francesco.     See  Senesino. 
Bcrtolli,  Signora,  182. 
Birds,  live,  introduced  upon  the  stage, 

50. 
Birmingham  Festival,  285,  414. 
Birth  of  Handel,  26. 
Bishop  of  London  opposes  a  festival  in 

"Westminster  Abbev,  371. 
Blindness  of  Handel,' 845. 
Bolingbroke  opposes  Walpole,  4-39. 
Bononcini,  32;  comes  to  England,  32; 

collaborates  in   3Iuzio  Sccevola,  87  ; 

his  operas,  87;  discussion  with  Lotti, 

169  ;  leaves  England,  177. 
Boschi,  the  basso,  52, 
Boston,  performances  of  Messiah   at, 

285. 
"  Bow  down  thine  car,"  92. 
Bowley,  Mr.  C,  80. 
Bovce,  Dr.,  3S4. 
Bradford  Music  Hall,  453. 
"  Brave  boys,  prepare,"  96,  105. 
"  Break  forth  into  joy,"  28-3. 
"  Brethren  and  friends,"  331. 
Broadwood's,  Messrs.,  harpsichord,  474. 
Britton,  Thomas,  58. 
Brown,  Lady,  against  Handel,  812. 
Brownlow,  Hon.  W.,  26-3,  290,  836. 
Burke,  Dean,  263. 
Burlington,  Lord,  receives  Handel  into 

his  house,  65. 
Burney,  Dr.,  anecdote  of,  395;  preju- 
dice against  French  music,  457. 
Busts  of  Handel,  372. 
"  But  the  water,"  332. 
"  But  who  may  abide,"  278. 

Cabals  against  HandeL,  88,  166,  183,  311. 

Caffarelli,  216. 

Co  jus  Fahricius,  184. 

Colfurnku  by  Bonopcini,  87. 

Cam,iUa,  46. 

"  Can  I  see  my  infant  gored,"  33-2. 

Cannons  mansion,  69. 

Cantata  of  Tfie  Passion,  37. 

Cantatas,  54. 


Cantate  e  Duetti,  by  Bononcini,  166. 

Canzonets  composed  in  Italy,  44. 

Caporale,  the  violoncellist,  314,  384. 

"  Cara  sposa,"  51,  77. 

Carestini,  18-3,  202,  895. 

Carey's  verses  in  praise  of  Handel,  89 ; 

on  the  Beggar's  Opera,  103 ;  "  Dragon 

of  Wantley,"  by,  209,  884. 
Caricature  by  Goupy,  163,  .393. 
Caroline,  Queen,  102  ;  Fimeral  Ant?tein 

for,  214  ;  anecdotes  of,  215,  396. 
"  Caro  vieni,"  368. 
Castor  et  Polhix,  long  run  of,  261. 
Castrucci,  the  violinist,  144,  314. 
Catalani,  Madame,  278. 
Caulfield,  Mr.  John,  112,  292. 
Cembalo,  40. 

Cervetto,  violoncellist,  384. 
"  Cesare  non  seppo  mai,"  91. 
Chaconne,  197. 
Chaloumcau,  the,  441. 
"Chamber  airs"  published  by  "Walsh, 

118. 
Chamber  duets  composed  for  the  Prin- 
cess Caroline,  54. 
Chandos,  Duke  of,  69,  81. 
Chandos  Te  Deums  and  Anthems,  70; 

reduced,  72 ;  imitative  music  in,  240 ; 

the  eighth  anthem  in  Messiah,  283 ; 

869. 
Chapel-master  to  the  Elector  George, 

46. 
Character  of  Handel,  878. 
Charities  of  Handel,  356. 
"  Cheer  up,  my  lads,"  105. 
"  Che  non  puo  la  gelosia,"  43. 
Chesterfield    and    Heidegger,    64;    his 

opinion  of  Frenchmen.  106 ;  anecdote 

of,  222. 
Chester,  Handel  at,  265. 
Choice  ofUercides,  333,  -340,  346,  350. 
Choruses,  Handel's,  155,  410. 
Chimenti,  Signora,  216. 
Chrysander's,  Dr.,  History  of  Music,  37, 

425. 
Cibber,  Colley,  468. 
Cibber,  Mrs.,  134;  in  Messiah,  273. 
Giro,  by  Attilio,  87. 

Clark,  K.,  on  The  Harmonious  Black- 
smith, 434. 
Clarinet,  the,  440, 
Clavichord,  28. 

Clegg.  John,  the  violinist,  144,  314. 
CLeofida  produced  at  Hamburg,  51. 
Clive,  Mrs.,  257. 
Clotilda,  by  Conti,  47. 
Cluer's  publications.  111. 
Collection  of  MSS.  by  Smith,  425. 
"  Col  tuoi  piedi,"  196. 
"  Come,  ever  smiling  Liberty,"  460. 
Commemoration  of  1784,  367. 
Commonplace-book  of  Handel  lost,  33. 
Competition   on   harpsichord    between 

Handel  and  Scarlatti,  41. 
Concertante  in  nine  parts,  247. 
Conti's  Clotilda,  47. 
Conversation  with  Handel,  468. 
Cooke's,  Dr.  Benjamin,  Ode  to  Handel, 

871, 


INDEX. 


48/ 


Cooper,  Lord,  1S3. 

(^opyriirht  in  his  works  granted  to  Han- 
del, 114. 

Coram,  Captain,  286. 

Corante,  198. 

Corelli,  40,  421. 

Corfe,  composer,  94,  384. 

Coriolano,  by  Attilio,  87. 

Coronation  Anthems^  99,  219,  229;  at 
Dublin,  265,  369. 

Correspondence  between  Eoner  and 
Hughes,  53 ;  between  Handel  and 
Colman,  434 ;  with  Jennens,  201  ; 
with  Jennens,  from  Dublin,  267  ;  296, 
807. 

Cortiville,  flutist,  384. 

Costa,  Mr.,  229. 

Cost  of  theatrical  management,  107. 

Costume  of  the  musicians  of  the  chapel- 
royal,  56. 

Coven t  Garden  Theater,  47,  431 ;  Han- 
del goes  to,  199 :  oratorios  given  at, 
298. 

Cowper  on  the  Commemoration,  370. 

Coxe,  Hcv.  W.,  66. 

Cradock,  Mr.,  testimony  as  to  Messiah, 
461. 

Craftsman,  the,  439. 

Creation,  the,  241. 

Crispo,  by  Bononcini,  87. 

Criticism  in  England.  239  ;  in  the  old 
journals,  277,  309,  454. 

Cross,  Mrs.,  48. 

Crosse,  236. 

Crotch,  Dr.,  on  T7ie  ffarmormms Black- 
smith, 433;  on  Handel's  plagiarisms, 
466. 

Croza,  Dr.,  failure  of  as  manager,  259. 

Crystal  Palace,  music  at  the,  452. 

Cuzzoni,  Signora.  her  first  appearance, 
90,  98,  168,  183,  397. 

Cuzzonists  and  Faustinists,  98. 

Cyrus.    See  Siroe. 

"Da  gl'  amori  flagellata,"  93. 

Daphne,  37. 

Dario^  by  Attilio,  87. 

"  Da  Tempesta,"  91. 

Dates,  discussion  as  to,  38. 

David,  by  Porpora,  249. 

'•  Dead  March^'  in  Smil,  228,  368. 

Death  of  Handel,  352. 

Deborah,  146,  190,  200,  229,  310,  338, 
350  ;  handbook  of,  358. 

Decorations  used  in  Rinaldo,  50. 

Dedications,  Handel  not  fond  of,  391. 

"  Deeper  and  deeper,"  343,  417. 

Deidamia,  255. 

"  Delizie  delT  Opera,"  published  by 
Walsh,  115. 

Denncr's  portrait  of  Handel,  872,  875. 

Desiriiir/  to  Lore,  72. 

Dettinqen  Anthem  and  Te  Deum,  229, 
802,  368. 

Devon.shire,  Duke  of,  viceroy  in  Ire- 
land, 262. 

"  Di  Cupido  impiego  i  vanni,"  95. 

Dido,  210. 

Dillon,  Sir  John,  263. 


"  Dite  che  fa,"  363. 

Dixit  DominuH,  composed  at  Home,  39. 

Doctorship  of  Music  at  Oxford,  182,  447. 

Doffgott  sings  in  Almahide,  48. 

"  Doni  i)ace,"  91. 

"  Dove  sei  amato  bone,"  92. 

"  Dragon  of  Wanlley,"  209. 

Dramatic  character  of  oratorios,  126. 

Drums  used  by  Handel,  158. 

Drury  Lane  Theater,  431. 

Dryden,  prices  paid  to,  113;  "arranges" 
Shakesjieare,  445 ;  Ode  to  St.  Cecilia's 
Day,  246. 

Dryden's  Ode,  255  ;  at  Dublin,  270 ;  368. 

Dubourg,  the  violinistj  59,  314,  345, 
379. 

Dubourk,  John,  purchases  Handel's  fur- 
niture, 458,  472. 

Duel  with  Mattheson,  86. 

Duke  of  Saxe-Weisenfelds,  28. 

"  Dulcis  amor,  Jesu  caro,"  479. 

Duparc,  Madame,  216. 

Durastanti,  Signora,  75,  183. 

Dusseldorf,  passage  through,  46. 

Edition  complete  of  Handel's  works, 

425. 
Elector  George  of  Brunswick  engages 

Handel  as  chapel-master,  46. 
Emmanuel,  359. 
Elijah,  the.  230. 
EU'erton,  Mr.,  his  portrait  of  Handel, 

376. 
English  Opera,  a  desire  to  establish,  1-39. 
Engravings  of  Handel's  portraits,  376. 
Erminia^hy  Bononcini,  37. 
Esther    composed,    80  ;    published    by 

Walsh.  116  ;  produced  in  public,  122"; 

performed   in   action,  126,   200,   205, 

247  ;   at  Dublin,  270  ;    333,  340,  350, 

368. 
Evirati,  168. 
Ezio.    See  (Etius. 

Faber,  111. 

Failures  of  Handel.  209,  314. 

"  Fallen  is  the  foe,"  280,  368. 

"  False  destructive  way,"  350. 

Farajnondo.  214;  published,  216;  com- 
posed for  Lord  Middlesex,  259. 

"  Farewell,  ye  limpid  springs,"  343. 

Farinelli,  183,  210,  421,  450. 

Farnace,  by  Bononcini,  87. 

Father  of  Handel  opposes  his  musical 
tendencies,  27  ;  death  of,  31. 

Faustina,  Signora,  98. 

Festinir,  A'ioloncellist,  384. 

Festival  at  York,  278,  368 ;  at  Birming- 
ham, 235,  453  ;  at  Hereford,  371  ;  at 
Worcester,  371 ;  at  Norwich,  453  ;  the 
great  Handelian  of  1857,  45:3. 

Fielding  on  Handel,  192. 

Finlayson,  Mr.,  262. 

Fire  Music,  208. 

Fireivorks  Music,  155,  S34 ;  played  at 
the  Foundling,  336. 

Flavius,  91 ;  published.  111. 

Florence,  arrival  at,  88 ;  second  visit  to, 
45. 


486 


INDEX. 


FlorHdante,  87  ;  at  Hamburg,  51  ;  in 
England,  90  ;  published,  111. 

Forent  Jfusic,  275. 

"  For  the  Lord  God  omnipotent,"  278. 

"  For  unto  us  a  child  is  born,"  280,  284. 

"For  who  is  God,"  71. 

Foundling  Hospital,  286,  354  ;  Anthem, 
3;37 ;  suggestion  to  bury  Handel  in, 
365. 

France  almost  ignorant  of  classical  mu- 
sic, 455.     . 

Francesina,  la,  216. 

Freke,  Lady,  263. 

"Freely  I  to  Heaven  resign,"  348. 

French  canzonets,  44. 

French  comedians  in  London,  76. 

French-horn,  when  first  used  by  Han- 
del, 39. 

French  school  of  music,  456. 

"From  the  censer  curling  rise,"  332. 

"  Fugues  for  the  organ"  published,  191. 

Funeral  Anthem  for  Queen  Caroline, 
214  ;  intended  to  be  used  in  Saul,  228 ; 
•  used  in  Israel  in  Egypt,  231. 

Funeral  of  Handel,  366. 

Furniture  of  Handel,  inventory  of,  472. 

Gaetano  Majorano.     See  Calfarelli,  216, 

Gaillard,  J.  E.,  the  composer,  384. 

Galli,  Signora,  302. 

Galop,  198. 

Galuppi,  258 ;  his  Penelope,  269. 

Garrick  recites  verses  in  Handel's  hon- 
or, 354. 

Gasparini,  38. 

Gates,  Bernard,  performs  Father,  122. 

Gay,  a  friend  to  Handel,  65;  wrote  part 
of  Acts,  SO;  The  Beqgar's  Opera, 
102  ;  Avrote  words  of  E-sther,  139. 

Geminiani,  the  violinist,  61. 

George  I.  irritated  against  Handel,  61 ; 
is  reconciled,  62. 

George  II.  ascends  the  throne,  99  ;  an- 
ecdote of,  215  ;  fond  of  Handel's  mu- 
sic, 222. 

George  III.,  anecdote  of,  223. 

German  cantata  of  The  Passion,  37. 

Germany,  popularity  oi  Messiah  in, 285. 

Gervinus,  Dr.,  information  fi-om,  37, 

Ghost  of  Dardanus,  39. 

"  Gia  I'Ebro,"  142. 

Gideon,  bv  Dr.  Morell,  358. 

"  Gird  on  thy  sword,"  368. 

Gismondi  Celeste,  Signora,  182. 

Giulio  Oesare  at  Hamburg,  51 ;  in  En- 
gland, 91 ;  published,  111. 

Giustino,  208. 

Glees,  447. 

"  Gloria  Patri,"  368. 

"  Glory  to  God,"  330. 

Gloucester  Music  Meeting,  343. 

Gluck's  operas,  long  run  of,  261  ;  La 
Caduta  d'  Giganti,  827  ;  Handel's 
opinion  of,  386 ;  his  manner  of  com- 
position, 408. 

"  God  found  them  guilty,"  316. 

"  God,  look  forth,"  236. 

"  God  of  music,  charm  the  charmer," 
92, 


"  God  save  the  King,"  when  printed, 

96  ;  chorus  of,  99,  815,  321. 
Gordon,  the  singer,  anecdote  of,  379. 
Goupy's  caricature,  163,  393. 
Grafoni's  portrait  of  Handel,  376. 
Grafton,  Duke  of,  896. 
"Grand  concertos,"  op.  6a.  138,  247. 
"  Gran  tonante,"  196. 
Granville,  Bernard,  42. 
"  Great  is  Jehovah,"  237. 
"  Great  Jehovah,  all  adoring,"  95,  235, 
"  Great  Jehovah,  awful  word,"  236. 
Green,  Dr.  Maurice,  170;  oratorios  by, 

359,  384. 
Greenwich,  3fessiah  performed  at,  2S5. 
Gretry's  imitative  music,  243. 
Griselda,  by  Bononcini,  87. 
Gutta  Serena,  Handel  attacked  by,  344. 

Habeneck,  how  he  conducted,  345. 

Hailstones  chorus,  236,  411. 

"  Hail,  holy  light,"  236. 

Hallelujah  chorus  in  The  MessiaJi, 
story  of,  410,  462. 

llallehijah  chorus  in  Occasional  Ora- 
torio, 317. 

Hamburg,  Handel  arrives  at,  34. 

Hamilton,  Newburg,  takes  Alexander's 
Feast  from  Dryden,  anA.  Samson  from 
Milton,  800 ;  his  address  to  Handel, 
204. 

Handelian  Festival  of  1857,  452. 

Handel,  how  spelled,  25;  early  musical 
tendencies  of,  27;  visits  Berlin,  30; 
goes  to  Hamburg,  34 ;  early  composi- 
tions, 87 ;  visits  Italy,  38 ;  Venice,  38 ; 
Kome,  39  ;  is  appointed  chapel-mas- 
ter to  the  Elector  of  Brunswick,  46  , 
arrives  in  London,  46  ;  visits  his 
mother,  53  ;  returns  to  England,  55  ; 
pensions  granted  to,  62 ;  lives  with 
Lord  Burlington,  65  ;  accompanies 
George  I.  to  Hanover,  66 ;  becomes 
chapel-master  to  Duke  of  Chandos, 
69 ;  joins  the  Royal  Academy  of  Mu- 
sic, 74  ;  becomes"  naturalized,  80  ;  re- 
visits Italy,  110  ;  becomes  manager, 
110 ;  visits  Oxford,  179 ;  refuses  "the 
doctorship  of  music,  1S2 ;  cabals  of 
the  nobles  against  him,  183  ;  his  first 
failure,  210 ;  his  illness,  213  ;  statue 
erected  in  his  life-time,  219 ;  his  sec- 
ond failure,  248  ;  his  house,  248,  460  ; 
abandons  operas,  258 ;  visits  Ireland, 
264  ;  visits  Aix-la-Chapelle,  311  ; 
elected  honorary  member  of  the  So- 
ciety of  Musical  Science  at  Leipsic, 
315 ;  last  visit  to  Germany,  339 ;  at- 
tacked by  gutta  Serena,  344  ;  his 
blindness,  847 ;  his  death,  851 ;  his 
will,  360;  his  funeral,  366;  his  char- 
acter and  genius,  378  ;  a  conversation 
with,  468. 

Hanover,  Handel's  return  to,  53. 

"  Han  penetrato  i  detti  tuoi,"  89. 

"  Happy,  hajipy,  happy  we,"  136. 

Hardcastle,  Mr.  Ephraim,  account  of  a 
conversation  with  Handel,  468. 

"  Hark  !  'tis  the  linnet,"  330. 


INDEX 


487 


Harmonic  Union  perform  Alea'amJer'a  I 
Fe,tHt,  229.  I 

Ifitrmoniou8Blacksmith,9,b\i><.'riorv(\cA  \ 
hv  Academy  of  Ancient  Music,  86  ; 
4:V2. 

"  Harmony  in  an  nproar,"  by  Arbuth- 
not,  5(5,  192. 

Harper,  Mr.  the  trumpeter.  304. 

Harpsieliord,  40;  competition  on,  be- 
tween Handel  and  Scarlatti,  41 ;  Ilan- 
del  i)lavs  it  at  BrittonX59;  belonging 
to  Handel,  372. 

Hasse's  Salve  liegitia,  249  ;  Artavo-x- 
es,  261 ;  the  number  of  his  works, 
405. 

"Hautbois  Concertos,"  139;  opera  3a, 
191,  417. 

Hautboy  used  for  trumpet  in  Boderigo, 
3S;  one  of  Handel's  favorite  instru- 
ments, 191. 

Hawkins,  46,  GO,  77,  183,  205,  427. 

Haydn's  Creation.  241 ;  bis  opinion  of 
Jos7uia,mn;  anecdotes  of,  888,  4^0; 
number  of  his  works,  405 ;  his  opin- 
ion of  Handel,  415. 

Hayes,  Dr.,  the  composer,  384. 

Haymarket  Theater,  47. 

Haym,  Nicolo  Francesco,  47  ;  dedica- 
tion of  Giulio  Cesare,  390. 

"  Hear  my  crying,"  237. 

"  He  comes,"  16(i. 

"  He  delivered  the  poor."  368. 

"He  found  Uiem  guilty,"  160. 

"  He  save  them  hailstones  for  rain," 
236,  "240,  315,  368,  411. 

"  He  has  his  mansion  fixed  on  high," 
317. 

"  He  has  rebuked  the  heathen,"  23S. 

Heidegger,  64 ;  partnership  with  Han- 
del terminates,  191  ;  his  proposal' for 
a  subscription  fails,  223. 

"  He  laveth  the  beams,"  92,  237. 

"  Help,"  Galatea,  help,"  81. 

Henry  the  Eighth,  a  composer,  447. 

Herbert,  Lady,  married  Beard,  301. 

"  Her  body  is  buried,"  368. 

I/ercnle.%  3ii9,  333. 

Hereford  Festival,  371. 

"  Heroes,  when  with  glory  burning," 
330. 

"  He  saw  the  lovely  youth,"  337. 

"He  sent  a  thick  darkness."  24;3. 

"  He  shall  feed  his  flock,"  279. 

"  He  shall  purifv,"  284. 

"He  smote  all  the  first  born,"  368. 

"  He  trusted  in  God,"  226. 

"  He  was  brought  as  a  lamb,"  92. 

"  He  was  despised,"  413. 

"He  was  eyes  unto  the  blind,"  92. 

"  He  will  dash  them  in  pieces,"  284. 

Highway  robberies,  87. 

Hill.  Aaron,  letter  as  to  English  opera, 
140. 

Hill,  the  Eev.  Rowland,  anecdote  of,  96. 

"IHs  body  is  buried  in  peace,"  36S. 

"  His  scepter  is  the  rod  of  power,"  316. 

"  His  se.at  is  truth,"  316. 

"  His  yoke  is  easy,"  284. 

Hogarth's  caricatjare  of  The  Beggar's 


Opera,  103;  his  "Enraged  Musician," 

144. 
Holland,  Handel  visits,  46. 
"  Holv,  holv,  holy  Lord  God  Almighty," 

92,  94. 
Hoops,  fashion  of  wearing,  274. 
"Hope,   a  pure  and   lasting  treasure," 

479. 
"  Hope,  thou  source  of  every  blessing," 

92. 
Houbraken's  engraving  of  Handel's  por- 
trait, 376. 
House  of  Handel,  458. 
"  How  beautiful  are  the  feet,"  283,  408, 

465. 
Howe,  Lord,  and  Handel's  harpsichord, 

476;  portrait  of  Handel,  375. 
"  How  is  it  possible,"  186. 
Hudson's  portrait  of  Handel,  374. 
Hughes,  John,  53,  58. 
Hullah,  Mr.,  performs  Israel,  239. 
Hundredth  Psalm,  52. 
Hy dampen,  by  Mancini,  47. 
Hymen-.    See  Jmeneo. 
Hymns  by  Handel,  72. 

II  Catone.  441. 

"  I  like  the  amorous  youth,"  258. 

It  Moderato  added  to  U Allegro,  250. 

"  II  trio  Cerbero,"  52. 

II  Trionfo  del  Tempo,  40  ;  still  unedit- 
ed, 41,"  209,  227. 

Imeneo  published,  118 ;  254  ;  at  Dublin, 
270. 

"  I  miei  sospiri,"  52. 

Imitative  music,  239. 

Imitative  poetry,  241. 

"  Impious  wretch,"  228. 

Improvisations  upon  the  organ,  225. 

"  In  gentle  murmurs,"  343. 

Instrumental  music  by  Handel,  417. 

Instruments  used  by  Handel,  155. 

Inventory  of  Handel's  furniture,  472. 

Invitation  to  visit  England,  46. 

"  lo  cia  t'amai,"  236. 

"  lo  t'abbraccio,"  368. 

Iphigenie  en  Tauride,  long  run  of,  261. 

Ireland,  Handel's  visit  to,  264. 

"  Israel,  how  art  thou  fallen,"  237. 

Israel  in  Babylon  a  compilation,  358. 

Israel  in  Egypt  contains  part  of  a  Jlag- 
nijieat  composed  in  Italj%  44,  477 ; 
produced.  226  ;  first  performance.  230  ; 
234,  237  ;  imitative  music  in,  239 ; 
247  ;  handbooks  of,  358  ;  368,  410. 

Israelites  in  Egypt  performed  by  Mr. 
Lacy,  130. 

Italian  opera,  the  luxury  of,  48. 

Italian  operas  in  England,  46 ;  organ- 
ized, 74 ;  in  England  a  fashion,  260. 

Italy,  Handel  visits,  38. 

"  I  will  sing  unto  the  Lord,"  315. 

Jackson,  W.,  the  composer,  384. 
Janson,  a  singer   at  Chester,  anecdote 

of,  265. 
"  Jehovah  crowned,"  160,  368. 
"  Jehovoh  is  my  shield,"  316. 
"  Jehovah,  to  my  words  give  ear,"  316, 


488 


INDEX. 


Jennens,  Charles,  correspondence  with, 
2Ul ;  character  of,  '252  ;  correspond- 
ence with  Ilandel  from  Dublin,  267  ; 
composed  the  words  to  The  Me^idah, 
267;  his  opinion  of  The  Jltaisiah,  281 ; 
correspondence,  297,  307. 

Jep?itha,  imitative  music  in,  240 ;  333, 
443,350;  handbooks  of,  358 ;  368. 

Jersey,  3/essiah  performed  at,  285. 

Jeune  Henry,  by  Mehul,  241, 

Jig,  the,  198. 

Jonson,  Ben,  anecdotes  of,  138. 

Joseph  and  his  Brethren,  304 ;  dra- 
matic character  of,  128,  311,  323,  333, 
850  ;  handbooks  of,  358. 

Jonhua,  dramatic  character  of,  129 ;  im- 
itative music  in,  240;  330,  833,  843, 
369. 

Judas  3faccab(Bus,  Quick  March  in, 
158;  produced,  323,  830,  333,  337, 
840,  344,  346,  350 ;  handbooks  of,  358 ; 
369. 

Julius  Ccesar.    See  Giulio  Cesare. 

Jupiter  in  Argos,  246. 

Justiii.    See  Giustino. 

Kaiser,  th©  number  of  his  operas,  405. 

Keeble,  J.,  the  organist,  384. 

Kelway,  J.,  the  organist,  384. 

Kilmanseck,  Baron,  61. 

King's  Theater,  430. 

Kyte's,  F.,  portrait  of  Handel,  377. 

La  Caduta  de'  Giganti,  by  Glnck,  827. 

Lacy,  Mr.  R.,  attempt  to  give  oratorios 
in  action,  180 ;  analysis  of  The  Occa- 
sional Oratorio  by,  815. 

r Allegro,  250,255;  at  Dublin,  266;  299, 
350. 

Lampe,  J.  F.,  153,  314. 

La  Sacrijicia  di  Crete,  209. 

"  Lascia  che  io  pianga,"  52,  413. 

Laudate  pueri,  composed  at  Kome,  39. 

L" Estrange,  Sir  Roger,  59. 

Leslie,  Mr.  E.,  359. 

Lessons  for  the  LTarpsichord.  See 
Suites  de  Pieces. 

Leicester,  Jephtha  performed  at,  343. 

"  Let  the  bright  seraphims,"  sung  at 
Vauxhall.  219. 

"Let  01(1  Timotheus,"  93,  226. 

"  Let  rakes  and  libertines,"  382. 

"  Let  the  waiter  bring  clean  glasses," 
52. 

"  Let  us  take  road,"  52. 

Leveridge,  R.,  publican  and  composer, 
884. 

Libel  against  Handel,  147,  433. 

Lincoln's  Inn  Fields  Theater,  431 ;  Han- 
del at,  246.  . 

Lindsay,  Mrs.,  48. 

Linley  in  partnership  with  Stanley, 
358. 

Lintott,  Mr.,  and  The  Harmonious 
Blacksmith,  433. 

Little  Theater  in  the  Haymarket,  480. 

Liu  to,  the,  40. 

London,  Handel's  arrival  in,  46. 

London  Sacred  Harmonic  Society,  227  ; 


The   Mes»iah   performed    by,    285 ; 

Joshua,  882. 
"  Lord,  remember  David,"  92. 
"  Lord,  to  thee,"  3-38. 
Lothario,  111 ;  published,  112 ;  119. 
Lotti,  39  ;   discussion  with  Bononcini, 

170. 
"  Lo !  the  angels,"  283. 
Louis  XIV.,  anecdote  of,  197. 
Love  affairs  of  Handel,  402. 
Lubec,  visit  to,  84. 
Lucan,  Lord,  268. 
Lucio  Vero,  by  Attilio,  87. 
Lucius  Verus  a  pasticcio,  327. 
Lysons,  the  Rev.  Daniel,  371. 

Macfarren,  Mr.,  on  imitative  music, 
245;  on  Handel's  plagiarisms,  466. 

Maclaine,  the  organist,  266. 

Magnificat  composed  in  Italy,  44 ;  in- 
troduced into  Israel,  477. 

Mainwaring's  mistake  as  to  date  of 
Handel's  birth,  26  ;  notice  of,  31  ; 
opinion  of  oratorios  in  action,  126  ; 
errors  as  to  dates,  427 ;  testimony  aa 
to  Messiah,  460. 

Major  key,  Handel's  use  of,  228. 

"  M"allontano  sdegnose  pupille,"  368, 

Mancini"s  opera  Tlydaspes,  47. 

March  in  Rinaldo,  51. 

Marlborough,  Duke  of,  patronizes  Bo- 
noncini, 166. 

Marriage  of  the  Prince  of  Wales,  207. 

Marylebone  Gardens,  219. 

Masked  balls  at  the  Opera-house,  105. 

Mattheson,  33  ;  character  of,  85  ;  corre- 
spondence with  Handel,  386. 

"  May  balmy  peace,"  817. 

"  May  no  rash  intruder,"  332, 

Maxey,  the  Rev.  — ,  371. 

Mazarin  introduces  opera  into  France, 
458. 

Meares,  piracies  by,  78 ;  his  publica- 
tions, 111. 

Mehul's  overture  of  Jeune  Henry,  241. 

Mercer's  Hospital,  Dublin,  264, 

Merighi,  Signora,  110,  216. 

Messiah,  four  choruses  of,  whence  taken, 
93 ;  Instrumentalized  by  Mozart,  159, 
418  ;  composed,  264  ;  first  perform- 
ance of,  271 ;  not  performed  for  the 
first  time  in  London,  459  ;  who  writ- 
ten by,  267  ;  not  composed  at  Gopsall, 
462;  revivals  of,  276;  present  popu- 
larity of,  285  ;  bow  much  it  brousht 
to  theF  oundling  Hospital,  290  ;  when 
printed,  292;  revived,  299,  811,  338, 
887,  343,  346,  350 ;  handbooks  of,  358, 
868  ;  anecdote  of,  394. 

Michaelsen,  Johanna,  375. 

Middlesex,  Lord,  becomes  manager,  258. 

Miller,  James,  304. 

"Millions  unborn,"  817. 

Milnes,  Mr.,  377. 

Milton  supplied  the  poem  for  Samson, 
300. 

Minuet  of  Esther,  225. 

"Mirth,  admit  me  of  thv  crew,"  244. 

Moli6re,  232  ;  anecdote  of,  465. 


INDEX. 


489 


Montagnana,  183. 

Montague,  Duke  of,  804. 

Montague,  Lady  M.  "W.,  on  Beard's 
marriage,  301. 

Monument  to  Handel,  444;  to  Shake- 
speare, 366. 

Morell,  Thomas,  319 ;  wrote  the  libretto 
of  Juiht.'^,  324 ;  Gideon,  358 ;  anec- 
dote of,  394. 

Mornington,  Lord,  263. 

Mother  of  Handel,  he  sends  money  to, 
88  ;  ho  visits,  46,  53,  360. 

Mozart's  instrumentation  of  The  3Ies- 
siah,  159,  418 ;  instrumentation  of 
AlexnfuJer's  Feast,  229 ;  liequiem, 
214,  241 ;  birth  of,  350 ;  anecdote  of, 
388 ;  number  of  his  works,  4o5 ;  his 
opinion  of  Handel,  418. 

MSS.,  Smith's  collection  of,  425;  of 
SiUa,  39 ;  belonging  to  Ladv  Hall, 
42:  of  The  Jle-sdah,  29\) ;  oi  Joshua, 
33i  ;  of  Solomon,  333 ;  of  Jephtha, 
848  ;  the  originals  left  to  Smith,  365 ; 
presented  to  George  III.,  372, 

Musette,  the,  197. 

Musical  criticism  in  England,  239,  453. 

Musical  Societies  of  Dublin,  263  ;  in 
England  and  Ireland,  448. 

Musical  tendencies  of  Handel,  27. 

Music  in  England,  447, 

Muzio  Scavola  produced  in  Germany, 
51 ;  in  England,  87 ;  published,  118, 

"  My  heart  is  inditing,"  368. 

Name  of  Handel,  how  spelled,  25. 

Naples,  v4sit  to,  42. 

"Nasci  ul  bosco,"  92,  368. 

Needier,  Henry,  58. 

Negri,  the  sisters,  183. 

"Nel  riposo,"  92, 

Xero,  37. 

Newton,  Rev.  J.,  Sermons  on  The  Mes- 
siah, 284. 

New  York,  performance  of  The  Messiah 
at,  285. 

Niccolini,  47,  51,  55. 

Nobles'  cabal  against  Handel,  311. 

Noisiness  of  Handel's  music,  152,  162. 

"  Non  sempre,  no  crudele,"  44. 

"  Non  vi  piacque,"  92. 

"No  pasture  now  the  plain  affords," 
317. 

Norwich  Festival,  453. 

"  Not  showers  to  larks,"  SO. 

Novello,  Madame  Clara,  456. 

Novello,  Mr.,  on  the  Detiingen  Te 
Dexmi,  465, 

Occasional  Oratorio,  2-35,  315 ;  not  a 
pasticcio,  317  ;  the  occasion  for,  321. 

"  O  Death,  where  is  thy  sting?"  284. 

Ode  for  Queen  Anne's  Birth-dau,  55. 

Ode  on  St.  Cecilia''s  Day,  206,  299  ;  in- 
strumentalized  by  Mozart,  418. 

(Etius  produced,  122. 

Old  style  and  new  style,  226,  263. 

"  0  Liberty,"'  316. 

'*  O  Lord,  how  many  are  my  foes,"  316. 

'•  O  Lord,  thou  ha.st  in  mercy,"  23S. 

21 


"  O  love  divine,"  72. 

"  Ombra  cara,"  77,  418. 

Oninij)ote)u-e  a  pasticcio,  858. 

"  0  my  pretty  I'unchinello,"  96. 

On  the  liesurrection,  72. 

Opera  la,  l;3S ;  —  2a,  139;  —  8a,  191  ; 
—  4a,  224 ;  —  5a,  139,  247  ;  —  68,  247. 

Ojicra-house  at  Hamburg,  Handel  en- 
gaged at,  84. 

Opera-house,  failures  of,  260. 

Opera  in  France,  history  of,  457. 

Operas  in  London,  46. 

Oratorio  (a  concert),  218, 

Oratorios,  origin  of,  125 ;  with  or  with- 
out action,  126 ;  how  performed,  181. 

Orchestra  Concerto,  385. 

Orestes  a  pasticcio,  198. 

Organ  Concertos,  opera  4a,  224,  417. 

Organist  of  Lubec,  34. 

Oriana,  51. 

Orlando  a  pasticcio,  141, 

Ormisda,  441. 

Orpheus,  long  run  of,  261. 

"  O  sing  unto  the  Lord,"  240,  368. 

"O  sing  ye  praises  to  Great  Jehovah," 
236. 

Ottoboni,  Cardinal,  40  ;  his  death,  41. 

Ottone,  91 ;  published.  111;  329. 

Overtures  for  the  Harpsichord,  pub- 
lished by  Walsh,  118. 

Overtures  in  eight  parts,  113. 

Oxford,  visit  to,  179. 

Paesiello,  number  of  his  works,  405. 

Pamphiii,  Cardinal,  40. 

Paradise  Lost,  price  paid  for,  113. 

Parnasso  in  Festa  produced,  187  ;  re- 
vived, 209,  254,  385. 

Parody  of  Amadigi,  03. 

Parthenope,  111,  119. 

Passacaille,  the,  197. 

Passion,  by  Bach,  161. 

Passion,  the  German,  37,  06. 

Pasticcios,  184,  441. 

Pastoral  SympJiony  of  Beethoven,  241. 

Pastor  Fido,  French-horns  introduced 
into,  39;  interpolation  in,  43;  pro- 
duced, 56  ;  published,  116  ;  revived, 
19(1,  194. 

Pavane,  the,  198. 

Pearce,  Dr.,  funeral  sermon  by,  866. 

Penelope,  by  Galuppi,  269. 

Pepusch,  Dr.,  plays  the  harpsichord  at 
Thomas  Britton's,  59 ;  chapel-master 
at  Cannons,  70 ;  composes  The  Beg- 
gar's  Opera,  102 ;  subscribes  to  Fara- 
mondo,  217,  384;  conversation  with 
Handel,  467. 

Performance  of  Handel's  oratorios  dur- 
ing his  life-time,  333. 

Pertbrmances  of  oratorios,  a  list  of,  in 
1734,  199  ;  in  1739,  227  ;  in  1740,  247  ; 
in  1741,  255;  in  1742  (in  Dublin),  270; 
in  174:3,  299;  in  1744,  3t»4;  in  1745, 
311 ;  in  1746,  none  ;  in  1747,  323 ;  in 
1748,  329  ;  in  1749,  332  ;  in  1750,  337  ; 
in  1751,  840;  in  1752,  843;  in  1758, 
346;  in  1754,  '55,  '56,  and  '57,  350;  in 
1758,  849  ;  in  1759,  351. 


490 


INDEX. 


Peterborough,  Lord,  caues  Senesino,  166. 

riiilharmonic  Hall,  Liverpool,  463. 

"  Piangero,"  413. 

Piccinl,  the  composer,  number  of  his 
works,  404. 

Piferari,  air  of,  466. 

Piracy  of  Ilanders  works,  78,  222. 

Plagiarisms,  Handel's,  465. 

Polil'enio,  voice  of  the  person  who  sang 
the  part,  44. 

PoWy,  a  sequel  to  T!ie  Beggar's  Opera, 
105. 

Pope,  a  friend  of  Handel,  65  ;  wrote 
part  ot  Acts,  65;  assisted  in  The  Beg- 
gar's Opera,  104  ;  assisted  in  Esther, 
12-S  ;  on  HandePs  visit  to  Ireland, 
264 ;  had  no  taste  for  music,  26.5. 

Poro,  51,  119. 

Porpora's  Ariadne,  183 ;  his  David, 
249  ;  number  of  his  works,  404 ;  his 
opinion  of  Handel,  415. 

Portraits  of  Handel,  221,  371,  374. 

Powell,  85,  314. 

"  Powerful  guardians,"  830. 

"  Praise  Jehovah  that  dwelleth  in  Zion,"' 
238. 

"  Praise  ye  Jehovah,"  237. 

Price  of  seats,  56,  146,  151. 

Prices  paid  to  Handel  by  Walsh,  113. 

Prince  Gaston  de  Medici  Invites  Han- 
del into  Italy,  37. 

Prince  of  Orange  arrives  in  England,  189. 

Princess  of  Wales,  anecdote  of,  898. 

Princess  of  Wales  opposes  Handel,  184 : 
397. 

"  Prophetic  visions,"  316. 

Ptolemy,  101 ;  published,  112. 

Public  Act  at  Oxford,  179. 

Publishers  of  Handel,  111. 

Pulteney  opposes  Walpole,  439. 

Pyrrhus  and  Demetrius,  by  Scarlatti, 
47. 

"  Quia  fecit  rnihi  magna,"  479. 

*'  Qui  I'augel  di  pianta  in  pianta,"  4-3. 

''  Quel  fior  che  al  alba  ride,"  93. 

Queen  Anne,  55,  57  ;  death  of,  61. 

Queensbury,  Duchess  of,  59. 

Quin,  Dr.,  263. 

Quintett  in  Flavlus,  91. 

Radamisto,  51,  76;  published.  111. 
Eameau's  Castor  andj  Pollux,  261. 
Kandall,  Dr.  John,  sings  in  Esther,  122. 
Eandall,   W.,  publishes    The    Messiah 

entire,  292. 
Ravenscroft,  violinist,  384. 
Reading,  J.,  organist,  384. 
Redemption,  a  pasticcio,  358. 
Reeves,  Mr.  Sims,  456. 
Reimschneider,  singer,  110. 
Reinhold,  T.,  singer,  .384. 
"Rejoice,  the  Lord  is  King,"  72.        , 
"  Rendi  'I  sereno  al  ciglio,"  92,  368. 
Rent  of  the  Opera-house,  107. 
Requiem,  Mozart's,  241. 
Resurreczione,  the,   39 ;   orchestra  of, 

40  ;  Avhen  printed,  41. 
Ricardo  Primo,  51,  99. 


Rinaldo,  49  ;  popularity  of,  52,  121. 

Rinsig,  J.,  Commemoration  of  Ilan- 
del,  371. 

Ristori,  Madame,  104. 

Ripieno,  instruments  of,  34. 

Rivers,  Ladv,  33. 

"  Roast  beef  of  Old  England,"  313. 

Robe,  a  justice  of  the  peace,  59, 

Robinson,  Mrs.,  afterward  Lady  Peter- 
borough, 49. 

Rochester,  Bishop  of,  funeral  sermon 
by,  367. 

Rodelinda,  51,  92,  121. 

Roderigo,  38  ;  choruses  in,  40. 

Rolli,  the  librettist,  75 ;  his  name  em- 
ployed in  a  political  libel,  438. 

Rome,  Handel's  visits  to,  39,  45. 

Roner,  An<lrew,  53. 

Rosamond,  49. 

Rosengrave,  the  organist,  384. 

Rossi,  Giacomo,  49. 

Roubiliac,  220 ;  his  monument  of  Han- 
del, 366  ;  his  bust  of  Handel,  872. 

Roxana,  or  Alexander  in  India,  329. 

Royal  Academy  of  Music,  74 ;  ruined, 
103. 

Royal  Fireworks,  the,  3-34. 

"  Royal  Guards'  March,"  51. 

Royal  Musicians'  Society,  portrait  of 
Handel,  374. 

"Rule  Britannia,"  319. 

Ruspoli,  Marquis  of,  40. 

Russell,  the  mimic  and  singer,  312. 

Sackau,  Handel's  music-master,  29  ;  his 
mode  of  teaching.  32 ;  Handel  visits, 
46;  his  widow  receives  remittances 
from  Handel,  386.' 

Sacred  Harmonic  Society  performs 
"  Zadok,"  100 ;  has  the  Vauxhall 
statue,  220;  produces  Dettingeii  Te 
Denm,  Coronation  Anthem,  and  Deb- 
orah, 229 ;  bre.aks  the  bonds  of  cus- 
tom, 279;  mode  of  performing  "For 
unto  us,"  279;  Jlessiah,  performed 
by,  285  ;  manages  the  forthcoming 
Handelian  Festival,  452. 

Sacred  music,  character  of,  71;  com- 
posed in  Italy,  44. 

"  Sacred  raptures,"  332. 

"  Sad  solemn  sound,"  235. 

Salamon's,  Mr.,  Lectures  on  Music,  84. 

Salaries  of  singers,  212,  442. 

Salary,  as  chapel-master  to  the  elector, 
46. 

Salle,  Mademoiselle,  198. 

Salt-box,  the,  412. 

Salve  Regina  of  Hasse,  249. 

Samson,  298,  304,  311,  332,  337,  343,  346, 
350  ;  handbook  of,  356 ;  369. 

Sandwich,  Lord,  played  the  kettle-drum 
in  Jephtha,  343. 

Saraband,  197. 

Saul,  201,  226,  247,  255  ;  at  Dublin,  270, 
304,  311,  332,  337,  350,  369. 

Scalzi,  singer,  183. 

Scarlatti,  Domenico,  38 ;  tompetes  with 
Handel  on  the  harpsichord,  41 ;  his 
opera  of  Pyrrhus  and  Demetrius, 


INDEX 


49gL 


47 ;  nninber  of  his  works,  405 ;  anec- 
dote of,  420. 

iScijyio,  117  ;  published,  222. 

Scott,  Dr..  (h/e  to  Handel^  372. 

Seal  of  Handel,  364. 

''  See,  the  conquering  hero,"  325,  410. 

"  S'el  mio  nial  lia  voi  dcpende,"  40. 

"Se  ui'aini  o  caro,"  43. 

Semele,  302,  304,  305,  311 ;  handbooks 
of,  358. 

Semiramis  a  pasticdo,  184. 

Senesino,  75;  anecdotes  of,  97  ;  his  re- 
turn to  England,  119  ;  quarrels  with 
Handel,  1(55,  107. 

Serenata  of  AH  e  Galattea,  43. 

Serpent  used  in  Fireicorks  Music,  156  ; 
anecdote  of,  380,  441. 

Heriie.     See  Xerxes. 

Servandoni,  the  Chevalier,  designed  the 
Eoyal  Fireworks,  3^34._ 

"  S'estinto  el'  idol  mio,"'64. 

"  Se  tu  non  lasci  amor,"  44,  284. 

"Se  vuoi  pace,  o  volto  aniato,"  349. 

"Sgonibra  del'  anima,"  93. 

Shakespeare,  treatment  of,  in  England, 
444 ;  his  love  for  England.  445. 

Sharp,  Mr.,  Handel's  siirgeon,  3S0. 

"  She  delivered  the  poor,"  368. 

Shuttleworth,  Obadiah,  59. 

Sicilienne  in  Aci,  43,  197. 

Silla,  89. 

"  Sing  ye  to  the  Lord,"  368. 

"Sinners,  obey  tiie  Gospel  word,"  72. 

"Sin  not,  O  king,"  227. 

"  Sion  now  her  head  shall  raise,"  349. 

Siroe,  100. 

Six  Ortcan  Concertos,  138. 

Sister  of  Handel,  360. 

Sleeping  personages  in  the  operas,  121. 

Smart,  Sir  G.,  on  Handel's  plagiarisms, 
466. 

Smith,  the  elder,  65;  renews  an  ac- 
quaintance with  Handel,  65 ;  78. 

Smith's,  C.  J.,  collection  of  MSS.,  425, 
345 ;  performs  Handel's  oratorios,  857 ; 
his  compilations,  359 ;  legatee  of  the 
original  MSS.,  365 ;  refuses  to  sell 
them,  372,  3S4. 

Smollett,  on  the  cabals  against  Handel, 
312  ;  writes  Alcestes,  340. 

Snow,  Valentin,  the  trumpeter,  304,314. 

Snoxell,  Mr.,  his  duplicate  of  Handel's 
will,  348,  364. 

Society  of  Decayed  Musicians,  369,  384. 

Society  of  Musical  Science,  at  Leipsig, 
elect  Handel  a  member,  315. 

Solomon,  interpolations  into,  235,  243, 
349,  332,  369. 

Sonatas  Solos,  op.  la,  138. 

Sonatas  Trios,  op.  2a,  139. 

Sonatas  Trios,  op.  5a,  139,  247. 

"  Songs  from  the  oratorios,"  published 
by  Walsh,  294. 

Sons  of  the  Clergy,  Esther  played  for, 
80. 

"  Sorge  il  di,"  43. 

"Sorge  infaU;ta,"  141,  868. 

Sosarme,  116,  122,  190. 

"  Sound  an  alarm,"  410. 


Spence's,  Miss,  •'  How  to  be  rid  of  a 
wife,"  82. 

"  Spero  si,  mio  caro,"  98,  235. 

Stage  decorations,  107. 

Stanley,  J.,  the  blind  organist,  847 ; 
conducts  Handel's  oratorios,  357,  384. 

State  of  Music  in  England,  447. 

Statue  tt>  Handel  in  liis  life-time,  219. 

St.  Cecilia  Society,  357. 

Steele  opposes  Italian  operas,  48 ;  price 
paid  to,  113. 

Stetfani,  38,  46. 

St.  George's  Hall,  Liverpool,  453. 

"  Still  caressing,"  341. 

St.  Martin's  Hall,  Messiah  at,  285. 

Strada,  Signora,  110;  advertisement  by 
her  husband,  136;  182;  her  husband 
threatens  Handel  with  arrest,  217. 

Stuniptf,  Mr.,  presents  a  copy  of  Han- 
del's woiks  to  Beethoven,  4i8. 

Suites  de  Pieces  pour  le  Clavecin,  84  ; 
second  series  of,  84,  417. 

Surman,  Mr.,  performs  Sanl,  227 ;  adopts 
the  arrangements  in  Israel,  238 ;  per- 
forms Joshua,  332. 

Susannah,  332,  351. 

Swift's  epigram,  90.  * 

Svviny's  letter  to  Colman,  435. 

Symonds,  Henry,  59. 

Tamerlane,  51,  368. 

"  T'amo  si,"  348. 

Te  Deums,  Utrecht,  50;  Chandos,  70; 

Dettingen,302;  Queen  Caroline's,  3(i3, 
Telemann's  relations  with  Handel,  33. 
Terpsichore  produced,  195. 
Te><eo  produced,  96. 

Theaters  in  London,  facts  respecting,  430. 
"  The  enemy  said,"  315. 
"  The  frighted  peasant,"  317. 
The  Invitation,  72. 
"  Their  land  brought  forth  frogs,"  239. 
"  Their  sound  is  gone,"  284. 
"The   Lord  will   deliver  us  from   the 

bondage  of  sin,"  68. 
"  The  Lord  is  a  man  of  war,"  479. 
"  The  Lord  is  my  strength,"  23S. 
"The  Lord  shall  reign.'^368. 
"  The  nations  tremble,"  380. 
Theobald's  arrangement  of  Shakespeare, 

444. 
Theodora,  387,  350,  869. 
Theorba,  40. 

"  The  sword  that's  drawn,"  317. 
"  There  came  all  manner  of  flies,"  240. 
"  The  waves  of  the  sea  rage  horribly," 

71,  240. 
"  This  is  my  body,"  69. 
Thornhill's  portrait  of  Handel,  376. 
"Thou  rulest  the  raging  of  the  sea,"  70. 
"Thou  shalt  bring  them  in,"  315. 
"Thrice  happy  Israel,"  236. 
"Through  the  land,"  231. 
"Through  the  nations,"  160. 
"Thy  music  is  divine,"  235. 
"Thy  rebuke,"  279. 
Tickets  for  the  Commemoration,  369. 
"  To  God  our  strength,"  316. 
"To  joy  He  brightens,"  95. 


<^2 


INDEX. 


Tolomeo.    See  Ptole>ny. 

*'  Tortorella  che  riuiira,"  240. 

"  To  song  and  dance,"  243. 

Townsend,  Mr.,  262. 

"Tri'i  sospetti,"  412. 

Traversa  bassa,  441. 

Triumph  of  Time,  350. 

Troinha  niiirina,  143. 

Trunipot   not   used   in  JiodeHgo,  88  ; 

used  in  Silki,  38,  40. 
"  Tune  your  burps,"  349. 
"  Tuoi  passi  son  dardi,"  196. 
"  Turn  thee.  O  Lord,"  92. 
"  Tutta  racolta."  412. 
Twelve  Grand  Concertos,  114 
Tyers,  Jonathan,  219. 
"  Tyrants  whom  no  covenants  bind,"  317. 

Uriah,  Handel's  plagiarisms  from,  465. 
Utrecht    Te  Deurn   and  Jubilate,  56 ; 

published,  114;  performed  at  Oxford, 

181 ;  at  Dublin,  266,  479. 

Valentini,  47. 

Valeriano,  56. 

"  Va  tacito  e  nascosto,"  868. 

Vauxhall  Gardens,  Handel  composes 
for,  218;  rehearsal  of  Fireworks  Mu- 
sic in,  335. 

"  A''enns  laughing,"  388. 

"  Verdi  prati,"  92 ;  sent  back  by  Cares- 
tini,  413. 

"  Verso  gia  Talma,"  43. 

Vespamina,  by  Attilio,  87. 

Viardot,  Madame,  68. 

Vico,  Signora,  51. 

"  Vieni  o  flglio,"  92. 

"  Vi  iida  lo  sposa,"  368. 

Vincent,  Mrs.,  219. 

Vincent,  the  hautboy-player,  384. 

Viohi  da  gamba,  40,  58. 

Viol  d'amour,  58,  143. 

Violetta  marina,  143,  441. 

Violin,  40  ;  family  of,  142. 

Violoncello,  40. 

Visits  to  the  Duke  of  Saxe-Weisenfelds, 
28;  to  Berlin,  30;  to  Hamburg,  84;  to 
Italy,  88;  to  Venice,  38,  45 ;  to  Eome, 
39,  45 ;  to  Naples,  43  ;  to  Oxford,  179 ; 
to  Ireland,  264 ;  to  Aix-la-Chapelle, 
811 ;  to  Germany,  389. 

Vittoria,  in  love  with  Handel,  402. 

Volante,  198. 

Voltaire  and  Shakespeare,  444. 

'•  Vous  ne  scaiiriez  flatter  ma  peine,"  46. 

"  Waft  her,  angels,"  240,  343. 


Walpole,  Horace,  on  Lord  Middlesex's 

management,    258  ;     on     the    cabals 

against  Handel,  813. 
Walpole,  Sir  R.,  and  his  excise,  151, 

489. 
Walsh    gains   £1000  by  Jiinaldo,  his 

publications,  111,  IfS,  298,  857  ;  prices 

])aid  to  Handel,  118  ;  fixcts  concerning, 

114  ;  arranged  editions,  115 ;  piracies, 
.     222. 

Ward,  Mr.,  his  portrait  of  Handel,  876. 
Warlike  symphony  in  JosMia,  331. 
"  War  shall  cease,"  316. 
Water  Jfumc,  the  first  work  in  which 

French-horns   were  introduced,  39  ; 

composed,  61 ;  published,  114. 
"  Waves  from  Waves,"  237. 
Wedding  Anthem.%  188,  207. 
"  We  hear,  we  hear,"  280. 
Weidemann.  the  flutist,  314,  884. 
Wekerlin,   Mr.,    on    The  Ilarmonioug 

Blacksmith,  482. 
"  Welcome,  welcome,  mighty  king,"  227. 
Wesley,  Eev.  Charles,  72. 
Wesley,  Samuel,  the  composer,  72. 
Westminster  Hospital,  869. 
"When  Israel,  like  the  bounteous  Nile," 

817. 
"When  the  sun  o'er  yonder  hills,"  236. 
"  When  warlike  onfeigns  wave  on  high," 

317. 
"  Where  is  this  stupendous  stranger  ?"  94. 
Whitchurch,  present  state  of,  81. 
White's  chocolate-house,  287. 
Wiehello,  Abiel,  59. 
"  Wise  men,"  849. 
"  Who  is  lil^e  unto  thee  ?"  315. 
Wolfand's  portrait  of  Handel,  374. 
Woolaston,  the  painter,  59. 
Worcester  F<'stival,  371. 
Worgen,  Dr.,  the  composer,  384. 
Works  composed  at  Hamburg,  87. 
"  Would  you  gain  the  tender  creature  ?" 

80. 
"  Wretched  lovers,"  93,  465. 

Xerxes,  217,  223. 

"Yet  his  bolt,"  479. 
"  Yet  Pharaoh  still  exalted,"  286. 
York  Festival,  278,  369. 
Young,  Dr.,  prices  paid  to,  113. 
Young,  Miss  Cecilia,  202. 

Zackau.     See  Sackau. 

"  Zadok  the  priest,"  99, 863. 

ZenoMa,  51. 


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